It’s been a while since I last played the piano.
I played it when my mother died.
I played it when my father died.
I played it when my wife died.
And all my brothers and sisters,
When my son died, I didn’t play it.
I sat down at the piano, opened the lid, stretched my fingers…
And then closed the lid.
I stood up, went to the wet bar, and made myself a drink.
I’ve been sitting out here on the back porch, watching the ripples on the lake.
Listening to the rain and thunder, and remembering his voice.
Munson State
It’s always weird when a team with more losses than wins ends up in a bowl game.
Okay, so some teams are tougher than others.
Some conferences are tougher than others.
And some schedules are tougher than others.
Then there’s Munson State.
Munson State lost every single game this season.
But they lost each game in double and triple overtimes.
Lost to teams with great programs and lots of wins.
Most of the Top 25 beat Munson State.
Only by a single point each.
They got an invite to a decent bowl game.
And… had their asses handed to them.
I dream of home
I sit here in the dark.
And I dream.
It is a beautiful dream.
What is my dream?
I dream of home.
My beautiful home.
In the woods?
By the ocean?
I don’t know.
All I know is, it is out there.
And I want to go home.
One day, I will find it.
My beautiful home.
And I will go home.
Until then, I dream.
I dream of home.
Where is home?
It’s out there somewhere.
I know it is.
It can’t just be in my dreams.
It has to be out there.
I know it is.
Somewhere.
Home.
Weekly Challenge #866 – PICK TWO The way we were, Waterproof, The wrong words, Bottomless pit, Safe, A word from an unknown language
RICHARD
Only words
It doesn’t matter what I say, or how I say it; the truth of the matter is that all you ever seem to hear are the wrong words.
You hear only want you want to hear, twisting and misinterpreting what I say to your own ends, and turning them against me.
I don’t know where it all went wrong, or why you changed.
I never changed.
Why haven’t I left? After all, that’s what you want, isn’t it?
But I’ll never leave.
Because I still believe you can change again.
And once more, we can be the way we were.
LIZZIE
The way we were always using the wrong words was a waterproof ticket to getting ourselves into a bottomless pit of trouble. It was definitely not safe to poke the beast but we insisted on doing it. At some point, we even came up with a language of our own. “Speaking in an unknown language won’t get you out of this mess,” she said, her eyes rolling in a remarkably odd way. We wanted to laugh but we didn’t, of course. Instead, we underlined random words in her books. Till this day, she keeps trying to figure it all out.
SERENDIPIDY
You imagine you’re safe.
Hiding away in the depths of the forest, far from the sounds of village life, you shun the daylight, sneaking out only under the cover of darkness, snatching a few stolen leftovers from the cooking fires, and covering your tracks at the first hint of dawn.
You imagine you’re safe, but you’re not at all.
You will never be safe.
And when the next full moon rises, the men of the village will seek you out, hunt you down and drag you, kicking and screaming to the elders.
A virgin sacrifice.
Cast into the bottomless pit.
DUANE
I looked over the old leather box with my flashlight. Somehow it had remained waterproof. Inside was a small delicate sheet of yellowed paper. In the center were two diagonal lines and an arrow pointing away from them. I held out the paper for my guide to see.
“I have heard stories of that mark being found in caves near my village,” he said.
“You are about to embark on a great adventure, my friend.”
I was excited, but didn’t think I could solve the meaning of the symbol before my time ran out. Maybe I’ll come back next week.
NORVAL JOE
Billbert frowned at Sabrina. “These two guys aren’t from the Guild of the Dark Knights. They’re just bullies.”
“That’s right,” the one in the middle of the sidewalk said. “We’re bullies and we’re going to beat the crap out of you. Bringing girls with you isn’t going to keep you safe.”
Sabrina spoke a word from an unknown language and clouds began to gather around them.
Billbert smirked. “I hope your jacket’s waterproof, because you’re about to get really wet.”
The bully stepped forward laughing. “My mom always said a little rain never hurt anyone, but my fist sure has.”
PLANET Z
When Sadie was born, she was constantly making noise.
Laughing, screaming, cooing.
And then, her first words.
At first, her parents thought they were babble words.
But they were utterly incomprehensible.
“We’re not sure what they are,” said the experts.
Colleges and universities around the world worked on the mystery for weeks, until one researcher figured it out.
“Does she have candy in her mouth?” she asked.
Sadie’s parents pulled a lolipop out of her mouth, and the kid swore up a storm.
“This is the last time we let the doctor give her those after a visit,” they said.
Limited unlimited
Unlimited isn’t unlimited.
Unlimited data plans eventually cap your speed.
Unlimited web services eventually claim you’re causing system issues for the other users on the server or the network.
Unlimited car wash plans will eventually get you a tap on your window from the manager.
And the granddaddy of them all, all you can eat buffets will eventually make you sick, and you’ll end up in the hospital while the owner adds you to the ban list.
Good luck trying to get a call out from the hospital… shouldn’t have sent all those unlimited texts and calls this past month.
Not so smart bulbs
A while back, I replaced some light bulbs with LED bulbs.
They were more expensive, but saved electricity.
Then I got some smart bulbs I could control from my phone.
It was amusing to change the colors, but a hassle to reconfigure when the bulbs reset.
Then I picked up smart bulbs that worked with a hub that I could control from my phone or watch.
Saying “Turn on the bedroom light” before going in there was great.
But I’d manually flip the switch to turn it off.
So the next night, the bulb wouldn’t respond.
Smart bulb, dumb owner.
Tomorrowland today
When I was a little kid, my parents took me to DisneyLand. DisneyLand!
Over in Tomorrowland, The Carousel of Progress showed how technology progressed throughout the Twentieth Century.
I totally lost the point, and made fun of the guy without a dishwasher, and the small television, and everything else we had and they didn’t have yet.
That was before the war, of course.
Now, nobody has anything.
No electricity.
No water, no food.
Radiation got into everything.
All that’s left is scraps we fight over with each other.
The big bright beautiful tomorrow, underneath the mushroom cloud and nuclear winter.
Rule the airwaves
For fifty years, Topher Gobin ruled the airwaves.
Television. Radio. Even rainbows.
When he saw a rainbow, he could make it bend this way and that.
He could make it dance, or change colors.
He’d tie them into shapes like circus clowns tie up balloon animals.
And when there was a double rainbow, well, better hide the children.
The things he made them do, you’d get arrested in Alabama if you did it out in public.
He had an extortion racket with baseball games and outdoor weddings.
Pay the man, or have your event ruined.
On live television and radio.
There goes King Cecil
Launches are more safe than the early days of spaceflight.
No more explosions on the launch pad or heat shield failures on re-entry.
King Cecil the Fifth enjoyed his holidays in orbit.
Zero gravity acrobatics suited him well.
When the institute developed a new engine for a solar system cruiser, Cecil insisted on seeing it for himself.
“Turn it on,” he commanded.
And the ship vanished into relativistic speeds.
The constitution is vague on succession.
Cecil is not dead, only far away, experiencing one second per our year.
We are ruled by a dynasty of regents.
Until Cecil’s eventual return.
Patton
He was a general, then a senator, a president, and finally a professor.
His grave is by the football stadium.
He asked for a simple plain stone, nothing tall or wide or fancy.
And that’s what he got. A small white cube, no writing or decoration.
But the fence around it is intricate wrought iron, and a brass plaque with gold lettering adorns the gate.
Carefully tended flowerbeds surround it, a flagpole and spotlights.
The leaping fountains and animatronic dinosaurs are a bit much, sure, but the kids love them.
Especially when they’re ridden the rollercoaster, merry-go-round, and Ferris wheel.