Tag: mahoney

A tragedy happened to Willie and Millie after years of marriage. All their kids were doing well  and had nice families of their own   but tragedy struck one dawn before  Willie had had his morning coffee. Millie was on her third cup and Willie said Millie looked at him the wrong way   and Willie asked, “What’s that look all about, Millie, what did I do now?” […]

A New Etiquette “One stall for all” is a new scenario for Wilbur. Thanks to his wife, he knew   in the past the right thing to do but now he doesn’t know what “one stall for all” calls for    after he’s through: Is it toilet seat up or toilet seat down? Author Bio: Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He has […]

Everybody Don’t Have Somebody The man in the ER, sutured and bandaged, told the nurse there wasn’t   anyone she could call  to give him a lift home. He said he’d take a bus    once he had a chance  to check his wallet and see if he had any money.   He didn’t have much to begin with, he said, and the […]

I died from a rattlesnake bite and found myself in line with other zombies in front of a bank  of elevators, the doors opening  and closing as if by metronome.   Every time a door opened a voice called the names of 12 zombies who boarded the elevator single file. As the doors closed, Led Zeppelin  or Bing Crosby played in the background depending on whether the […]

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 […]

A Good Customer I saw Al once a month for 30 years, maybe more, doing business together. He retired to hunt bear  in Alaska, hook Tarpon  in Florida, golf in Scotland. He had it all planned. Nothing would stop him.   Months later I learned doctors said he had cancer of the blood. The outlook was bleak. I called Al and he said six months, […]

Age Has Curtains An incident in youth never meant to happen recorded on a pad to be read  another time  is found  decades later in a drawer of socks by the writer  who is then on the precipice of age. His reading glasses help him understand who it was  and why he did it. Not so funny now. Can’t apologize. He’s […]

I Traded Ethel for Tiffany   I know very little about computers but I use one for basic needs. Poems, stories, not much more. Like some nice women I’ve known, I’ve discovered computers have a mind of their own. They do what they want and expect me to understand. The problem is I never do. I babble in amazement. And like the […]

Answering Machine   My wife’s upset because I won’t answer the phone in the middle of the night even though the phone’s on my side of the bed.   And I say that’s because after all these years we both know whenever the phone rings in the middle of the night, someone we know, maybe   someone we love, has […]