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.
Category: Short Stories
Hey man, I wonder what’s at the botttom of the gene pool?
I know, I need to quit harping about how stupid people are, but every time I try, they go and do something even more idiotic. Like the rash of asshats lately in our National parks. A few weeks ago, some dude tried to pet a bison…on the face. Another couple grabs a baby bison from the side of the road and shoves it into their vehicle because they thought it was lost and yet another drunk-ass moron tried to pick a fight with a bison right in the middle of the road. Last week, I read about an incident where these two bull elk were fighting each other and about fifty people gathered around them to take pictures. After the battle, one elk walks away from the fight and these dingbats just keep standing there clicking their cell phones. I’ll tell you, they got a pretty good picture as that elk tossed one of those brain dead morons a couple of yards. The most recent escapade was these two numb nuts that get off the path and walk up to an active geyser and lean over the opening so they could take a picture of the inside. They got arrested for trespassing, which is much better than they deserve…my vote would have been to let them get steamed alive when it erupted. But even the actions of these brain dead morons didn’t even come close to the level of stupidity I saw in the comments of one of the digital newspapers reporting it. Check out what this idiot had to say about it.
“So you’re telling me that now I can’t even go wherever I want in my State Park, yay for freedom.”
Seriously?
Play it Again Sam
Music’s always been part of my coping mechanism in life. My family could tell my mood by the songs I played. If I’d had a good day, you would hear Simon and Garfunkel, Steely Dan, Jethro Tull or The Beatles coming out from under the door. A more melancholy me would sit in the dark and listen to Pink Floyd, Jackson Browne, America or the Eagles.
One night my son wanted to borrow the car. I heard my wife tell him, “You better not go in there son, he’s playing Cat Stevens. My son called his friend for a ride.
They just don’t make them like they use to…
A friend and I were talking the other day and the subject came up about shoddy workmanship in the products we buy nowadays. He was upset because he had to upgrade his phone again. I know it’s easy to place the blame onto the modern day worker or the fact that so much of our consumer product comes from China or Vietnam. But I don’t think the blame that can be put on the workers themselves. I believe the blame lies on the shoulders of the todays
You see, back in the old days, our grandfathers and even our parents had to scrimp and save every penny, sometimes for years to purchase things like cars, houses, televisions or air conditioners. They demanded that the items they bought were of quality construction because they knew that they probably would never buy another one. But with us, even if they did build an item to last a lifetime, we would still want to trade it in every few years because we are always on the lookout for the next best thing. Nothing pleases us more than to be able to use the excuse that the one we have is broken. We can complain about it on the outside but on the inside we give a little smile.
So can we blame a company for knowing that if they make a product that has to be replaced or upgraded every few years means more cha-ching in their pockets? After all, we get what we ask for.
Intolerable
When my friend opens her mouth, hatred and ugliness comes flying out. I look at my wife who mirrors my quizzical expression and we wonder how one person could hate everything so much? True, she’s not rich, but certainly not poor either. She isn’t an ugly woman. She has a loving husband, nice children and a few wonderful grandchildren.
Perhaps age is creeping into her mind and she’s feeling mortal.
Has she been angry for so long that it just seems normal or does she just enjoys being angry.
I have to wonder, does she care that she’s becoming intolerable?
Jerry Brotherton 