It’s been a while since I last saw snow, but I’m always prepared for anything: cap and scarf on the coat rack, just in case.
Walking from the parking garage to work, I caught a glimpse… a single snowflake drifting from a nearby alley.
I walked over there, and in there was a winter wonderland, dumpsters covered with snow, drifts as high as my knee.
And a snowman, but it turned out to be a bum who had frozen to death, covered by the freak snowfall.
I put the cap and scarf on him.
There. That’s much more festive, right?
Category: My stories
The Winter Festival
When the factory was still open, the Winter Festival was a festival, but now after it closed, all that changed.
There’s no more parade. No skating in the park. No snowman building contests…
Just the big dinner at the school gym for the needy, and it grows every year.
Well, that and the Snowball Fight.
A through M, one side of the park.
N through Z on the other.
Pack ‘em tight, and no rocks allowed.
We stack our forts high, and let the snowballs fly.
Sure, nobody wins.
But unlike Life, just for this moment, that’s fine by us.
The Dragon
There was an island north of Scotland that would crown the girl with the purest heart their Winter Princess and send her off to The Dragon Of The Hill.
That’s what they called The Mother Superior in the church’s school, and she’d welcome the girl into the convent and the other Sisters Of Mercy.
Some became nurses in the hospital.
Others became teachers in the school.
And one or two were groomed to become the next Dragon Of The Hill.
Today, the island is quiet, and one final Dragon watches the snow outside her window, waiting… watching, praying silent prayers.
Heart Of Rust
Before the Wizard vanished into the sky, he told Tin Man that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.
So, as Scarecrow ruled Emerald City, Tin Man sent the city’s soldiers from door to door, surveying the townsfolk on how much they loved him.
Over time, he expanded the surveys to all the lands of Oz, and the results sank from a grateful love to a weary negative.
“WHY?” shouted Tin Man.
He called for one final census.
“Because of all these annoying surveys!” was the overwhelming response.
Push Your Luck
Jack and Sally were pushing their luck at the Craps table.
The casino practically pouring vodka into them, good old liquid courage, so one more roll?
Jack thrust the dice at Sally. “Kiss ‘em for luck.”
“We haven’t needed that till now.”
“Just blow!” snarled Jack. So, she did… and vomited on his hand.
“NO BET!” said the croupier.
They were escorted off the floor as the next shooter tossed snake eyes.
When they sobered up, they counted seventy thousand dollars.
“We could have lost all that,” said Sally.
“Told you so,” said Jack.
(Instead, they lost it in poker.)
Finger Fairy
From her shelf, the doll watched the girl sleep night after night.
“If the Tooth Fairy leaves quarters under her pillow for teeth, what might I get for fingers or toes?” she pondered.
Climbing down from her shelf, she walked to the sewing table and reached for the scissors.
They slid off the table and fell, slicing off the doll’s head.
The girl blamed her little brother for the attack, and sewed the doll’s head back on.
Grateful, the doll never thought about cutting off the girl’s fingers and toes ever again.
Her little brother, though, that was another matter…
Hospital Stay
Ned’s a great guy, always the life of the party keeping everyone in stitches.
Generous, too. Always looking out for other people, the first to pass the hat and chip in.
So, when he broke his leg and went to the hospital, the nurses and doctor and staff enjoyed Ned’s time there.
So positive. So upbeat.
And they didn’t want it to end.
The doctors said there were “complications” and they kept him a week… then two… three… just making sure…
A clot in Ned’s leg killed him.
Even worse, now the funeral director doesn’t want to let him go.
Ice Queen
She was the most beautiful woman in all the land, but The Ice Queen’s heart was no man’s to own.
The Sun Prince, captivated by her beauty, asked Merlin The Wizard for advice.
“Take this potion,” he said. “It will melt the ice from her heart.”
The Prince set out at dawn, and made the queen’s castle in a week.
Slipping the potion into her wine, he watched as the Queen’s face turned to shock, then agony.
Merlin arrived the next day, not expecting two corpses.
“Her heart wasn’t covered with ice,” said the Prince’s suicide note. “It WAS ice.”
Who Rules The Body?
“Who rules the body, the heart or the head?
Perhaps it is both, for with neither, we’re dead!
But then, so many parts, without which we would die
And others, like hands, upon which we rely
You can live without eyes, or a tongue, or an ear
Sure, it is nice, if you can see, taste or hear
Fingernails aren’t life-threatening parts in the least
Until they’re clipped during dinner, then you’re as good as deceased.”
I blinked the blood out of my eyes and looked up at the torturer.
“Please kill me before you read me another of those.”
Painted Heart
She tears open your chest, dips a brush on to her palette, and paints her life upon your beating heart.
The first time you see her, who is that?
The first time apart, when will I see her again?
You hand in hers, as the ring goes on her finger till death do we part.
And as she pulls that ring off and tosses it in your face.
With one final jab, she is finished.
And you are left there, gasping, as the colors begin to run… and fade… and burn.
She is gone, she is gone, she is gone.