My parents used to tell me that someday I’d wish to be a child again. I thought they were a bit senile. Who would want to live a life with no TV, cell phone or Facebook again? Who wants to fish in clean water, breathe unpolluted air, or play in the middle of the street without harm? Who needs to sleep through a quiet night and wake up refreshed? Who needs simplicity, friends …family? Why would I want to hug my father and mother or tell my brothers and sisters I love them?
“Not me,” said the ignorance of youth.
Category: Short Stories
Basic Training
The humidity was doing a good job of outpacing the temperature. Until around 10 AM when the thermometer pushed over 100. That’s when 176 frightened kids and a few old hippies staggered out of the crowded cattle trucks.
“Alright maggots, RUN,” voices screamed in unison from under wide brimmed Smokey Bear hats. So we ran, duffle bags slung over shoulders, for hours before finally coming to attention under the blistering Missouri sun. All the while the bears circled, sniffing the air and grunting.
“Don’t show them any fear,” one of the old hippies told me. “They prey on the weak.”
Love, Honor and Cherish
On our wedding day, the summer was beginning to fade away but autumn had not taken over the world. The sky opened and dropped a few tears of happiness onto the church rooftop while we said our vows. Although the temperature was mild, our passion still scorched our skin like a burning July sun with every touch. My Army uniformed paled against the brilliance of your winter white wedding dress. You smelled like wild flowers in the spring. We laughed when we promised all our worldly possessions to each other. We did not understand yet how rich we truly were.
Show, Don’t Tell…
I’m interested in one thing, telling a story. If I wanted to show you a story, I’d take up painting. I write for me and I know what I like. I don’t write for some professor, sitting in a stuffy office, scowling at my lack of proper style. So yes, I’ll start a sentence with a conjunction, use a comma when it should be a semicolon, and use nouns as verbs. It only matters that I like it. If you like it, share it. If you don’t, that’s ok with…who am I trying to kid…please, please, please like it too.
Monday Morning Blues…
John stood at the window of his fifth floor office and smiled at the traffic on the street below. All those cars speeding past with their Monday morning drivers jockeying for a position nearer to the front of the line. Only to have to slam on their brakes again as the light on the corner of Grand St. turned red. In their eagerness to get to the jobs they hated, they’d start inching forward with each second that passed until the light would turn green and they could stomp on the accelerator to go another ¼ mile before screeching to a stop again on Jefferson.
He turned his attention to a group of little kids in the park across the street. Amused at how they clutched their mother’s fingers with one hand while they tried to toss bread crumbs from the other. Then they would quickly back away and peer out from behind the legs of their protector as the ducks and pigeons scurried forward to snatch them up. Jumping up and down with joy they would point their fingers and giggle at the fascination of it all.
“You know, it really doesn’t take much to make people happy. I sure wish you would have learned that lesson years ago.” John said, as he turned around to look at his lifeless body slumped over the desk. Its face buried in the quarterly reports that just had to be finished. It was still wearing the same suit he had worn to work on Friday.
Jerry Brotherton 