Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Mysteries of a Virus
With all the debate and turmoil over COVID-19, there is one thing we all can agree on: the virus isn’t cooperating. Worse, the virus is deliberately making things as difficult as it can. It’s not behaving in predictable ways. It has kept us off-guard throughout the entire pandemic. I was made aware of all the
My Olympic Moment — Finish of the Men’s Marathon
As the barricades came down and traffic was restored, Ken, Ellen and I said goodbye to the mile chief. We were off to the nine-mile mark, at the point where the course came back to follow the beach along Ocean Avenue. It was only about a mile and a half away. When we got there,
My Olympic Moment — The Start of the Men’s Marathon
The women’s marathon had been new territory. We all had been tentative and unsure. But the men’s marathon would be different. Everyone knew exactly what to expect. Also, we would be wide awake. The plan was about the same, only we allowed an extra hour for traffic. We shouldn’t have worried; we arrived at the
My Olympic Moment — Finish of the Women’s Marathon
Almost immediately, a truck appeared to begin collecting barricades. Traffic was flowing freely again within five minutes. Workmen appeared to reset gates and take down decorations. They would be needed again next Sunday for the Men’s Marathon. The marshals gathered for a round of self-congratulations and to wait for transportation back to the RAND Corporation.
My Olympic Moment — The Start of the Women’s Marathon
I didn’t sleep well last night. Maybe it was because I was getting up at 4 am, or because I was in a strange bed (I was at my friend Ken’s house to save travel time), or because I was going to help with the first women’s marathon in Olympic history. We were up and
My Olympic Moment — The Orientation Meeting, Part 2
When we reconvened one of the topics was — security. There were no, repeat no, anticipated security problems. None. The possibility was very remote. However, even though there will be security people, and one of the three radio nets will be reserved for security, they wanted race marshals who will be alert, intelligent, and capable
My Olympic Moment –The Orientation Meeting, Part 1
The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) was nothing if not prompt. The meeting began precisely at 7:00 with a slap of a palm to the podium. The first of six speakers welcomed us. I quickly lost track of who was what. It takes a big bureaucracy to put on an Olympics. First, we were
My Olympic Moment, Revisited
The start of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo has reminded me of my own Olympic moment. In 1984, I was living in Anaheim, CA when the Summer Olympics came to Los Angeles. This was not only a chance to see some of the world’s greatest athletes, it also provided a way to give back to
A Proposal for Renaming Military Installations
It is not my intention to rehash the controversy surrounding military installations named for Confederate leaders. But a recent article on Time magazine’s daily email The Brief got my attention. It seems there is a surprising imbalance in who we are choosing to honor in our base naming. According to the article, there are almost
Of Billionaires and Their…Toys?
So what did you think of Richard Branson’s foray into space? To recap, on Sunday, July 11, 2021, Sir Richard Branson, pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, and employees Beth Moses, Colin Bennett, and Sirisha Bandla boarded SpaceShipTwo, a winged plane with a single rocket motor that Branson’s company Virgin Galactic has been developing for the past twenty