A family legacy short story by Jack Wallace J.T. heard the beat of horses’ hooves as he walked from the barn up the hill to hisfarmhouse. He stopped in the path and watched two riders appear in the late twilight of thespring evening. The horses were breathing heavily, their hides white with dried sweat, their…
When we’re young, our lives as yet untouched by tragedy, we view each day not as a gift, but as a given.Then things happen, and if we are lucky enough to survive, we look at life through a less rosy lens, atleast for a moment.The day I turned sixteen in July of 1968, I walked…
My sister, my brother, and I took piano lessons from a blind woman for three years. MissLove lived with her mother in a simple, white frame house, and her piano was in the front parlor.She was a stern teacher who demanded the best of her young students and had a low tolerancefor any foolishness. Mother…
(A Halloween poem, with apologies to E.A. Poe and B. Seger) Once upon a midnight sleepy, I sensed the presence of something creepy,A wraith appeared at my bedroom door, waking me from my noisy snore.It was all Hallows Eve. Not All Saints Day, but the night before.“You are no saint!” said this haint, “you committed…
On Saturday, Labor Day weekend, I woke to the news that Jimmy Buffett had died. I am not ahuge Buffett fan, I’m not a Parrothead, but I knew and enjoyed his music and, even more, hisphilosophy of life that permeated his music.It seems every summer party from the 1990s till today plays Buffett tunes to…