Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Celebrating Failure
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. ” — Sir Winston Churchill Do you remember the Sony Betamax? (I still have one.) How about coffee-flavored Coca-Cola? These are obvious failures most people would like to forget. But according to an article in the December 2017 issue
Original Story — Thanks, Santa
Since this is now officially the Christmas season, I’m repeating my Santa Claus story as my holiday contribution — Thanks, Santa I guess I shouldn’t complain. I live in a nice house on a street with nice houses. I think our house is the nicest, two stories with a pool in back and a
How To Sell A Car
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be car salesmen. Okay, that’s not how the original song lyrics went. But that’s what I thought of while listening to a podcast from National Public Radio’s This American Life. This episode is entitled “129 Cars” and originally aired December 13, 2013; it was recently rebroadcast. “We
Honoring Childhood Victims Of Cancer
In 2009, Rik Zortman lost his three-year-old son Armstrong to brain cancer. How can you honor a child who dies so young? As a 44-year-old runner from Avoca, Iowa, Rik thought of a novel way — he would trace his son’s name in the streets during his next run. “Armstrong” appeared on September 1st, beginning
Happy Birthday Charles de Gaulle
On November 22, 1890, Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France. He is best known for leading Free France against the Nazi occupation in World War II, then becoming the symbol of post-war France by organizing the Fifth Republic in 1958 and serving as president until 1969. He was also a decorated officer in
Looking For The Truth Through Fiction, Revisited
About a month ago, I wrote about the book Truthers by Geoffrey Girard. Mr. Girard is the author of several books, and he currently chairs the English department at a private boys’ high school. He wrote this story to help his students critically analyze the conspiracy theories they were so fond of discussing, especially the
One Dish You Should Never Serve On Thanksgiving
If you’re fortunate enough to have a home-cooked meal for Thanksgiving, it will probably include the sweet potato. There is nothing like enjoying one of my childhood favorites, a sweet potato casserole topped with oven-browned marshmallows. Or is there? Many professional chefs are saying this is one dish we could all do without. The objections
Have You Heard About Zipper Merge?
When you are driving and come to a construction zone that requires traffic to merge out of a lane, what do you do? I usually merge into the first available open space. Frankly, it’s always bothered me when people speed down the soon-to-be-closed lane despite the signage, then merge at the last possible minute. That
Bill Gates Meet Walt Disney
A couple of days ago, I heard on the radio that Bill Gates is planning to build a futuristic community. As soon as I arrived home, I started researching. According to the article “Bill Gates Invests $80 Million to Build Arizona Smart City” by Matt McFarland (http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/13/technology/future/bill-gates-smart-city-arizona/index.html), it sounds wonderful — The community in Belmont
On Trees and Relationships
I have a ginkgo tree in my front yard. It was not my doing; it came with the house. If you’re not familiar with this type, it’s sometimes referred to as the maidenhair tree. The only surviving species in the division Ginkgophyta, it goes back at least 270 million years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba). The probable reason there is