Category: My stories

I never sleep well.
Myst pesters me when I try to sleep.
Pawing my face, claws out, biting my hands and toes.
I have bad dreams.
Too many hypocrites out there.
Making their way in.
With all their noise.
The bed’s too warm.
Sweating and reeking.
When I wake up, I lay on the sofa.
Tinny sniffs and headbutts me to check if I’m okay.
She finds a spot on my shoulder.
Settles in.
Grooms her fur for a few minutes.
Closes her eyes.
She trusts me.
And then she stops, tucks up, and sleeps.
That’s good enough for me.

We have a big bird feeder in the back yard.
We fill it with bird seed, and so many birds come to eat the bird seed.
So many different kinds of birds. So many colors.
I have a spotters guide and binoculars, and I keep a diary of the birds I see.
I figured out that kinds of seed attracts different kinds of birds.
Every now and then, a hawk swoops down and grabs a bird at the feeder.
Which, I suppose, is okay, since it is a bird feeder.
It’s just attracting birds to feed to other birds.

They say that the Tree of Liberty needs to be watered occasionally with the blood of patriots.
Not that rioters who are burning down businesses and smashing cars should be mistaken for patriots.
They’re just violent jerks, and when they destroy other people’s property and livelihoods, they’re not bleeding on the Tree Of Liberty.
They’re pissing on it.
Well, on the rare occasion, they do bleed on it.
When they throw rocks and molotovs at the cops, and get their heads beaten in.
That’s when they scream about police brutality, and for their mommies and daddies to bail them out.

Cut the wire on the gates and push them open.
Look around.
Over there, you see the piles of shoes.
Over there, you see the piles of suitcases.
Over there, you see the piles of eyeglasses.
Over there, and there.
So many piles.
Clothes. Hats. Belts.
And bodies. Piles and piles of bodies.
Men. Women.
Children.
There is a fine grey ash over everything.
Run your finger through it.
It’s the ones they burned in the ovens.
Up the smokestacks they went.
Into the air.
And they drifted, and settled down.
On the piles. On the ground. And on everything.

So many hateful, angry people.
And people angry at those people.
It’s best not to say anything, really.
No good will come from it.
There is no common ground anymore.
It’s just a No Man’s Land, and nothing lives there.
Throwing insults. Throwing rocks.
So much hate.
The only thing you can do.
Is to sell slings to both sides.
They can scrounge up the rocks themselves.
Find some cover, and wait for the noise to die down.
Gather up the slings from the fallen.
Fix them up, and sell them all over again.
And again. And again. And again.

Hamburger patties sizzling on the stove.
Can you smell that?
Slicing up the pickles as the buns heat up in the toaster.
I like to warm my hands over them.
Just a dab of mustard, not too much.
Flip the burgers, and then put on the cheese so it melts a little.
On to the buns they go.
But it needs… something more.
Mushrooms? I open a can of mushrooms, toss them into the pan, and sprinkle on red wine and butter.
Stir them up, let them simmer, until they dry out and pop.
Now that’s what I call dinner.

I bought some hamburger meat and buns at the store to make hamburgers for dinner.
We’ve already got cheese, mustard, and pickles at home.
I toasted the buns in the toaster while the burgers cooked in a skillet.
When the buns were ready, I put cheese and mustard on them, and then sliced up pickles to lay on top.
When the burgers were ready, I thought “I think I’ll add some mushrooms.”
I opened a can, dumped it in the pan, and splashed on red wine vinegar and butter.
Everything in life needs that “I think I’ll add mushrooms moment.”

Ted’s parents didn’t believe in the Boy Scouts.
So, when Ted was older and on his own, he got into scouting.
He learned how to identify all kinds of plants.
And he learned how to tie knots and start fires.
The Scouts didn’t recognize him, but Ted knew he’d done well.
He bought a bunch of sashes on eBay, tore out the stitching, and collected his badges that way.
Proudly wearing his full sash, he stood on his chair, tossed a rope over the crossbeam, and tied it off on the banister.
The knots all held his full body weight.

The day that the Supreme Court declared that gay marriage was now legal in all 50 states, many people proudly displayed rainbow flags, changed their social networking icons to rainbow colors, and professed that love won.
The Empire State Building, White House, and London Wheel were bathed in rainbow colors.
So was The Pentagon, but not by choice.
Thor and his Norse God friends picked that precise moment for invasion. They lowered the Rainbow Bridge from Valhalla to Midgard, and shouted VICTORY OR DEATH! battlecries as they rode their steeds down.
And promptly got shredded by machine-gun fire.
Stupid Vikings.

Tommy may have been the coward of the county, but Billy was the coward of the state.
Every time they met, it took a team of lawyers to figure out the jurisdiction issues.
A judge worked out a reasonable solution: Tommy was the coward of the county, but Billy could handle anything that crossed the county line.
This worked out well, until George was deemed the coward of the city. And the governor appointed Howard the coward of the state.
Pretty soon, cowards were constantly stumbling over other cowards.
The President wanted to intervene, but he was just too cowardly.