CARRIE DANIELSON: Alzheimer’s

Submissions, Touching, , ,

The old woman gazed at the teddy bear, the toy goose, and the heart-shaped pillow. “Isn’t it nice that I have my family here with me?” she said.

“I am your family, Mom,” said her son.

“Well these children are nice; you are not.”

He sighed and left the room.

Carrie Danielson grew up in the Colorado Rockies. Her first career was acting, but she later became an English teacher. Now retired, she has time to devote to writing. Carrie lives in Chula Vista, is married, has four children, and spends time with her four grandchildren, four dogs, and a parrot.

SANDRA BUNNING: One

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Morning was a tangle of sweaty sheets and panic.

One coffee cup stain on the table, one bowl to wash; the start of a never ending sequence of ones.

Black heels clicked across the linoleum. The limousine was here.

They had always been two; now she was one.

Screw cancer.

Sandra Bunning, an overstuffed teddy bear from Calgary, Alberta, has always lived in a fantasy world that she much prefers to the real one. Both a Poet and a Writer, she finds endless inspiration in the day by day life of the people around her. Published in several school publications and blogs, Sandra is only now dipping her toes into the field professionally.

JOHN FOWLER: The Visit

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

It was spring when she arrived, a broomstick-riding hag, dark and ugly. Dad claimed she belonged on the pages of Macbeth, stirring a bubbling cauldron!

She set up camp at our front gate and stayed for days on end.

After a week, Dad surrendered, telling Mom, “Let your mother in.”

John Fowler served twenty years in the US Air Force before retiring and starting a second career in the IT field. He is also a Lay Pastor serving a small church near his home in Texas. His hobbies include reading, golfing, and writing.

JOEY TO: The Seeker

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Single male, 30s, new in town, never married, professional, healthy, looking for love w/ woman.

…

Male, early 30s, seeking good company or just to show me around town.

…

Male. Dinner and movie. Any genre.

…

Male offering meal. Can cook. Not a health freak.

…

Lift to airport. (For 1 + luggage.)

Joey tries to write a little. For a good time, visit joeytoey.com. Or don’t.

DANIEL SLATEN: The Most Successful Man in the World

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

No one could be that driven, they said.
No one could possibly work that hard, they said.
No one could be that tireless, focused, and dedicated, they said.

And yet it still came as a shock to everyone when it was revealed that the man was, in fact, a robot.

Daniel Slaten writes short stories and poetry in small notebooks and on sticky notes.

BOB THURBER: The Father of the Bride and the Open Bar

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

I never called them stupid for marrying. That wasn’t in my speech. I was drunk but I remember exactly what I said before somebody yanked the microphone away. I said he was a couple rides short of a carnival and that her sewing machine had obviously run out of thread.

Over the years Bob Thurber’s work has received a long list of awards and prizes. His most recent book is a collection of brief stories titled “Nothing But Trouble”. Visit BobThurber.net.

RANDAL HOULE: Who Will Uncover the Stones?

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Blackberry thorns dig into the hem of my slacks as I work. I step-measure the grave spaces again. Garden of Hope, Row D, Lot 21, Spaces 5 and 6. By my estimation, the companion marker should be buried two feet further in.

Who will uncover the stones when I’m gone?

Randal Houle worked in the cemetery industry for eight years.

GORDON LYSEN: Chalk It Up to Imagination

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

The smell of the chalk dust reminded him of some past dated food. He imagined thousands of others who would have breathed it in and eventually gone to their graves having never exhaled it entirely.

Ninety eight more lines to go.

He scrawled, “I promise not to daydream in class.”

Gordon Lysen resides in Manitoba, Canada, and spends his time between the city of Winnipeg and his true home at Sugar Point on Lake Manitoba. Retired from police work after some 27 years, Gordon co-authored the novel “A Deadly Blend of Souls” with his wife, Lisa. Writing and painting are Gordon’s relaxation methods when retirement becomes too stressful.