I don’t know if it’s first come, first served and eventually they will stop doing this but some of my readers told me they received 200 token credits which means they can literally read ALL my stories for free right now!!
Please DO and don’t forget to give the episodes a thumbs up and a review. I would sincerely appreciate it! Thanks!
Zoom here, Zoom there, Going nowhere, and yet anywhere!
UP AND…
Little spider climbing up the air on invisible string.
SPECIAL FRIEND
Gentle purring indicates it is awake soon will need to be fed. I care for its needs, it can then help me – we are a team: my friend, my chainsaw.
FOREST ENCHANTMENT
The man has a place in the country, a few acres. Part of it is meadow, but part is hillside with trees. The meadow is a nice open space, but it is the trees that enchant him. Their shade and the breeze particularly attract him. They are his refuge from a life of stress. A friend posted a photo she had found of someone who also had trees, and in their roots had placed tiny elfin doors, windows and even walkways, handmade but exquisite. He would do that too!! They would add a magical touch to his magical place.
SO MUCH UPSIDE DOWN
He sits at home imprisoned by disease, yet his world has expanded more than he ever imagined. Technology connects him to people and places in the world where he could never otherwise have gone. The curse and blessings are mixed. He can see and speak with people who had moved far away, yet cannot hug his grandbabies. It has become a strange world. Among his pastimes has become a search for himself. Not an inner, existential search, but a search for evidence of physical accomplishments. With the internet, he can search for his published work he would otherwise never have known about. It still puzzles him that writings of his have been posted from one site to another after their initial acceptance. He doesn’t mind – he is surprised. As a child, his mother refused him any identity of his own. Now, he finds he exists all over the world. Amazing!!!
A NAME IS…
“English was good enough for Jesus, it’s all I need, and you’d better stay away from that foreign stuff too!” Cecilia’s Father was vehement in his pronouncement.
“It rhymes with Hawaii,” Cecilia sighed and finished. She had just mentioned to her father the names of Bahá‘u’lláh and Bahá’í, that the first meant ‘the Glory of God’ and the second, ‘Follower of the Glory.’
“English names don’t have meanings,” he refuted.
“Armstrong, who had a strong arm? Boatright, who built boats? Smith, the village blacksmith? Most names have meanings, we just don’t know them.”
“Still, that’s foreign stuff.”
“Granpa was born in Germany. That’s foreign!”
“Well, that’s diff….”
“And Jesus wasn’t born in Kansas.”
At that, her father had to grin. He couldn’t argue there.
“Every religion is new some time. People living in the Roman Empire thought the name of Jesus was strange and new.”
“You win,” he grinned lovingly.
~~~
Herrmann aspires to be a hermit, but would miss his children, grandchildren and a few friends. He is known to carry baby kittens in his mouth, pet snakes, and converse with owls, but is careful not to anger them! A traumatic, abusive childhood embellished with dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, now, PTSD. This is Duane’s second feature on The Short of It.
The country is divided – rich vs. poor, black vs. white, men vs. women – freedom wanted, but only oppression is alive and well. The guilty get a pass; the innocent convicted of nothing. There is an unease permeating throughout. All inhabitants challenged like never before in this reign of rich, white men’s egos. The political climate of today’s world has all teetering and scared. The tension so thick, cutting it only adds more strength to the day’s events.
Scene 1 – Random coffee shop in the US
Friend 1 – “Oh, man, this sucks! Waah, Waah. I don’t know how much more I can take of this! Waah, Waah. I’m sooooo tired of feeling dragged down. Waah, Waah. I don’t like it! Waah, Waah. Will it ever end??”
Friend 2 – “Give it time, Friend 1. You do realize things sometimes have to get worse before they get better! Good can and will triumph eventually! It will all be okay. I’m sure of it. You need to resign yourself to things taking their own time.”
Friend 3 – “Oh, Friend 2, you are such a delusional twit! THIS chaos IS the end of our country as we know it. It’s gone to hell in a handbasket. Life IS OVER and will never be better again, EVAH!”
Friend 4 – “I don’t understand?? I loved this country! Fought for it, stood for it, pledged my commitment to it and now it just feels like a betrayal! Friend 3, what did I do wrong? I gave it all I was supposed to and all that I get back is something that doesn’t even remotely resemble the bond we had before.”
Friend 5 – “OMGosh you guys! You don’t realize what is happening right now at all! How can you not see that we are Making America Great Again?? Our current state is the best thing that could have happened to this country! I pledge my allegiance till the day I die. And so should you!”
Friend 6 – “Go ahead. You sit here and lament, thinking that time will heal everything, angrily do nothing, wallow in your misery, or proudly pound your chest. Just know that we are done! I can’t believe I’m friends with people who are so selfish, blind, apathetic, and just plain ignorant. How in the hell did that ever happen? I can’t and won’t remain quiet in the face of our demise! While I go fight for what’s right, remember it’s because you don’t know how! Good-bye!” **Stands up and leaves dramatically
I Write Her 