Genre: Uncategorized

The Rocks Like a Baby in the Cradle

Nearly 10 o’clock. Jimmy Jones stared at his 5th grade homework assignment.  “Write a very short story of 100-300 words, using the title prompt: It Rocks Like a Baby in the Cradle. Oh crap, why did I wait so late…

The Story Tree

I believe a story grows like a tree. It begins as a seed—a word, a phrase, a question, an idea—planted on a blank page with no promise of what it will become. I water it with words until a sapling…

My Turn

Hudson leaned his broom against the attic support post as he spied an ancient cigar box in the dusty corner. He opened the box, tossed the tarnished jacks across the floor, and bounced the rubber ball as he resumed an…

Mom’s Lament

In the living room, the TV blares a bouncy kids’ tune that dissolves into a symphony of chaos—her two young sons shrieking as they toss toys and tussle, her hungry, over-stimulated toddler daughter wailing to high heaven. In the kitchen,…

Seconds

  So many seconds but not enough time. They tick into minutes and hours and daysand weeks and months and decades sublime.I can’t get them back although I have tried. There’s no second chances, re-dos, or rewinds. The seconds dissolve…

A Rapture You Won’t Miss

I’m startled awake by the sound of a blaring trumpet. What was that? The moonlight streaming through my bedroom window tells me it’s still night, but my wife’s side of the bed is empty. Where did she go?   My breath…

The Gift of the Present

Jake had been a delivery driver for over three years, navigating the bustling streets of his small town, but today, frustration gnawed at him like a mouse on melted cheese — sticky and relentless in the muggy heat. After a…

Supercells

In a parallel universe, President Daniel Triumph was holding a press conference. A reporter asked if he was concerned about terrorist sleeper cells activating after the bombing of Iranizbad.  The President responded: “Our dumb former president, ‘Sleepy Joe Lyin’, let…