The more I try to recall whether I was three or four, the more convinced I become that I must have been four, because I was wearing a new, blue seersucker suit. I remember that suit distinctly, and recall wearing it to Sunday School at Catonsville Presbyt...
I am enthralled by little pins of cold that dissipate on my tongue. The crisp air tingles my nostrils as I gaze into the soft grey sky. The flakes are tiny. They float lazily down and sparkle for an instant before disappearing into the grass. The silence...
Mom’s birthday was August 24. On August 25, she started baking for Christmas. The first thing on her agenda was the fruitcake, because it was best if it aged three or four months. In September, she started baking cookies. She made several dozen Pfeffernou...
It was the last day of school. We must have had band or orchestra practice that day, ‘cause after classes were out, I went to the band room to get my flute. That’s when Mr. Daniel (the band director) collared me, and hauled me into his office. “Close the...
I graduated from college in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Geography. Because I had changed my major course of studies along the line, I also had “under my belt”, twenty one credit hours in history, twenty one credit hours in geology, and several seme...
The ice cream curls off the scoop just like the big ones breaking off the coast of Maui. I look inside the curl to see if there’s anyone shooting the pipe. All I see are the tiny speck of vanilla beans. They look like specks of pepper. I wish I knew how t...
“…you must not lesnerize.” This is of course, a well-known line from the Robert Sheckley short story, Protection, which first appeared in his 1957 anthology, Pilgrimage To Earth. It is a really good story, and has a surprise ending that is both humorous a...
What is a line but a queue? I’d rather stand than sit in a pew Listening to someone drone on ‘Bout people and times so far gone That even what’s true has been bent To serve ends that never were meant. So on line I’ll continue to stand My foolscap and pen...
When I was a kid, I used to run everywhere. Down through the woods to Cheryl Pierce’s house, 1/4 mile away. Out the gravel driveway, and across the street to the mailbox to get my Captain Midnight Decoder Buckle with the Glow-In-The-Dark- Adjustable-Belt...
I arrived home from school, to find my mother carrying an armload of books up the stairs. I put my flute case and music on top of the piano, and carried my bookcase and lunchbox out to the dining room. As I returned to the living room, Mom said to me, “We...
So I received a love letter from the Federal Court in downtown Baltimore. On the appointed day, I rose, showered, shaved, and performed my other normal morning ablutions. Then I donned my freshly laundered, heavily starched white shirt; one with French cu...
