The newborn is content to nuzzle where it’s warm listening to his mother’s heartbeat, a familiar sound from her womb. He hasn’t opened his eyes yet, and is still coming to terms with the oxygen rush that first hit his lungs.
He was sentenced to life. Day one starts now.
Ruth Mannino is guilty of sentencing four to life, and all are enjoying their terms and conditions.
Mom advised: “Marry someone with a sense of humor. A clever pun can avert a pending argument.”
So I did.
We joked about cost-of-living expenses, cooking techniques, and how we’ve changed over the years.
Then he left me for a “more serious brunette.”
I got the house. Who’s laughing now?
Ruth Mannino has been happily married to the same man-with-a-sense-of-humor for 48 years.
“Do one thing a day that scares you,” said Eleanor Roosevelt.
So I went without makeup, in a sleeveless top and shorts (sans my Spanx).
With gray roots and more than laugh wrinkles showing my age, I performed my daily errands.
The freedom I felt overcame the stares I imagined.
Ruth Mannino is at the stage of life where insecurity battles with reality buoyed by a sense of humor.
It’s a habit:
looking out my kitchen window.
Checking to see if my neighbor’s car is parked.
Relief when I see it,
Knowing he’s safe.
Irene never returned
from the trip to PA
for her chemo treatments.
Hit a tree.
Took days to discover.
Broke in to rescue her dog.
Ruth Mannino is testing her hand at writing poetry for April’s poetry month. She learned more about Irene after she died, than when she was living next door. Isaac, her dog, was adopted by a good man and his family.
Startled by a sudden movement, I looked over to see the cat peering at me through the patio door. It wasn’t his first visit.
Unlatching the door I took what was offered in my hands.
As he left, I retrieved the box, placing the gift gently inside with the others.
Ruth Mannino is trying her hand at a cryptic theme.
Smoke filled his lungs; sirens filled his ears. He ran, animal instincts kicking in.
People streamed from office buildings, bars, diners, incomprehension on their faces.
TVs tuned to terror; radios blared chilling news. Phone lines down.
The buildings fell. Blood donations not needed.
This could not be happening in America.
Ruth Mannino is a retired math teacher, tutor, and business analyst, who has always loved to write. Meditation and mindfulness being a part of her everyday life, in 2020, she published Thursday Mornings: Breathe, Stretch, Listen, Love, a series of interviews she conducted with senior members of her chair yoga class. She’s been published in Fiftywordstories and SBLAAM. She remembers 9/11 all too well. Her daughter was going to school in Manhattan and was able to contact her before the telephone lines went down.
It was an ordinary weekday for the two retirees. He wanted to go to the shore; she wanted to catch up on her writing. She gave in.
A horn bellowed from the speakers somewhere above. They looked oceanward as the whale came up for air.
She had her next story.
Ruth Mannino is a retired math teacher, tutor, and business analyst, who has always loved to write. Meditation and mindfulness being a part of her everyday life, in 2020, she published Thursday Mornings: Breathe, Stretch, Listen, Love, a series of interviews she conducted with senior members of her chair yoga class. She has just discovered flash fiction and finds it motivating!
Married too soon, she lost herself. She became we; we became they. Over the years, there was no room for her.
Daughter. Sister. Wife. Mother. Grandmother.
Walking the line between solitude and loneliness, she hopes to come to terms with which was preferable. Waiting for answers, she begins to write.
Ruth Mannino is a retired math teacher, tutor, and business analyst, who has always loved to write. Meditation and mindfulness being a part of her everyday life, in 2020, she published Thursday Mornings: Breathe, Stretch, Listen, Love, a series of interviews she conducted with senior members of her chair yoga class. She has just discovered flash fiction and finds it motivating.