Category: Uncategorized
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Empty
We’re on a hybrid work schedule, like most people in the services procession. My field, I.T., both leverages and enables it. I like a lot of things about it: more time to exercise, less money on lunches and clothes, and a whole lot less stress in the morning. But there’s something wrong. We experience societal…
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A Few Seconds More
Her breathing was labored, uneven. The simple, reflexive task of filling her lungs hurt and required all of her concentration. She was pulling deeply from the oxygen canister on her back. She should be elated, but her head was swimming from altitude sickness and she was getting dizzy. She knew this would happen. Her older…
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Homeless
We pass them everyday. Here in our cities, even in our small towns. Here in the richest, most powerful nation on earth, no; in the history of earth. My parents generation used the phrase “Down on his luck.” It was a philosophical statement. The implication was that things were out of their control and but…
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Chevys
There were a lot of Chevys in my life. Belair, Nova, Caprice, Chevette, and even, god help me, a Cavalier. Oh yes, and there were a couple of Corvettes that may pop up later. The Chevette should be forgiven, because it belonged to a girl, and in any world worth living in, girl trumps car.…
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Fading Summer
I’m remembering railroad tracks skirting the Hudson, a bridge crossing leading down to the river. We stand there in the summer dusk, watching the sleek streamliners pass under. Shades of gray and blue and white lightning stripes. They slip past quickly, silently, bringing up the markers for the end of an era. We’ll not see…
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Camp Life
Ten Years Old If he were to be believed, he saw an empty spot next to her during arts and crafts time, grabbed the opportunity, and sat down. If she were to be believed, she saw him wandering around with no one to sit with and squeezed over to make a space for him. The…
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Penn Station
Penn Station in New York had been cleared down to the business end. The grand edifice, grander some said than its uptown rival Grand Central Terminal, had been leveled. Actually, it was like something beautiful had been scraped off the earth, leaving the functional under bits. What was leveled was non functional, it was just…
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By The Willow Tree
She closed her eyes and felt the breeze brush her cheeks. Save for the chirping of nattering birds and the burbling of the water over rocks it was silent. When she opened her eyes again, the effect was a burst of technicolor as her pupils rushed to adapt to the flood of light. It was…
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Quiet
What I remember most was the quiet. You could hear the breeze. You could hear a fly buzzing. You could hear a cow mooing in the distance. I don’t think I ever heard a cow mooing in the distance before. In fact, I never heard a cow mooing anywhere. Except maybe on TV. But it…