Shoot The Engineer
By ice rivers
- 937 reads
Triggers and Brothers
Whenever I think of an "asshole", I automatically think of my brother. My brother is as far from being an asshole as anyone that I have ever met. If...
- Read more about Triggers and Brothers
- Log in to post comments
- 336 reads
Awakening from Stephen King's Nightmare.
I have been institutionalized and remain institutionialized. I have awakened from Stephen King's nightmare after reading 41 of his books. His...
- Read more about Awakening from Stephen King's Nightmare.
- 4 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1310 reads
The King of Child Killers
Since our common crime within the institution is indifference, falling into routine is comforting. We "appreciate" the administration of our...
- Read more about The King of Child Killers
- 3 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 765 reads
A Matter of Trust
After he killed the kid in Cujo, I lost faith in King. Lost faith is not a deterrent to habit. I kept reading Stephen another 35 times. I remember...
- Read more about A Matter of Trust
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 424 reads
Shifting from First to Third
It's always fun to switch a story from first person to third which also requires a change of tense. Sometimes we got to get out of automatic.
- Read more about Shifting from First to Third
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 422 reads
Kunio
“A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled...
- Read more about Kunio
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 593 reads
Fake Oreos
I just ate a fake Oreo. It was everything an Oreo should be but the stamp on the cookie said Publix. I had a hard time opening the package. I pounded...
- Read more about Fake Oreos
- Log in to post comments
- 553 reads
Night of Champions
One of the first lessons of Education 101 is this "Don't have favorites." This is one of the first rules that I was determined to break. I decided to...
- Read more about Night of Champions
- Log in to post comments
- 461 reads
Hello Haylen
Well Hello Haylen. This is your hippocampus speaking. You've already turned down our hypoglamus. You've jolted our amygdola and you're feeling...
- Read more about Hello Haylen
- Log in to post comments
- 519 reads
Bound and Gagged Guy
Unless you are a very secure person, don't come bound and gagged to a straight bar on Halloween night. Of course, you may not have a choice in the...
- Read more about Bound and Gagged Guy
- 5 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 5800 reads
Jack Goes Nicholson Over the Aardark in his Wallet
One day for no reason, a bunch of us started comparing what we carried in our wallets. Jack Stafford won the competition that day. For some reason...
- Read more about Jack Goes Nicholson Over the Aardark in his Wallet
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 949 reads
Bone Dry
I was playing the ninth hole at the Canandaigua Veteran's Hospital golf course, when my brother Deke approached. I got a bad feeling as Deke got...
- Read more about Bone Dry
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 484 reads
A Smart Feller
Maybe it was the fall from the bunk. Maybe it was the radioactive Nevada weather. Maybe it was the fact that Merle, unlike ShelleyandKelly or...
- Read more about A Smart Feller
- Log in to post comments
- 337 reads
Buying Some Milk
The eighteenth ward was full of grocery stores, what we now would call Mom and Pop shops. It wasn't unusual for the shops to have different prices...
- Read more about Buying Some Milk
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 453 reads
Child in the Dark
I was still afraid of the dark when my father took me to my first movie. The scene of the fright was the Dryden Theater in the George Eastman House...
- Read more about Child in the Dark
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 472 reads
Service Elevator
The service elevator overloaded with nobodys while the somebodys Go up and down without a shafting On the escalator. Everybody is rescued From...
- Read more about Service Elevator
- 3 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 656 reads
You want to kill a marriage slowly?
You want to kill a marriage slowly? Take your routines and obey them Shake your spontaneitys, delay them Every day religiously to the letter. Settle...
- Read more about You want to kill a marriage slowly?
- Log in to post comments
- 512 reads
Carolina Blue
I've complained about the weather down South for the past three months. It's been relentlessly hot and humid. They tell me when I come from up North...
- Read more about Carolina Blue
- Log in to post comments
- 335 reads
Welcome to Essential Media Theater
Everybody's tuning in for the impeachment of Donald Trump. Everybody that is except for Trump himself. Welcome to American media theater once again...
- Read more about Welcome to Essential Media Theater
- Log in to post comments
- 361 reads
YO, HOLMES WHAT UP!
Marie Yovonavich is one tough cookie. She's been kneecapped, coldcocked, blindsided and smeared but she keeps right on truckin'. Of course the GOPS...
- Read more about YO, HOLMES WHAT UP!
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 525 reads
Everlasting Memory
It came down to me and Larry Walker in the basement of the dorm with about 10 witnesses. Somebody got the idea of an intra dorm boxing tournament. I...
- Read more about Everlasting Memory
- 6 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1041 reads
Loosening Gordian Knots
With each reinvented year The passing of each day Increases in significance if not sound and fury. Some might say That I wasted today Sitting stock...
- Read more about Loosening Gordian Knots
- Log in to post comments
- 326 reads
Crushed by the Hearings
Yesterday, while watching and listening to the impeachment hearings, I found myself distracted by the faces of people sitting behind the big shots...
- Read more about Crushed by the Hearings
- Log in to post comments
- 331 reads
Meeting in the Garden
Finally They Met.... They had met before, these invincible Sons of the South but never in this most famous of gardens and never wearing their gloves...
- Read more about Meeting in the Garden
- 4 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 890 reads
Blind Date at Casa Fredo
She showed up on time. She's cute rather than ravishing. She's well dressed instead of flashy. She knew what she wanted to eat. She chose wine over...
- Read more about Blind Date at Casa Fredo
- 4 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 914 reads
I Call Myself Ice
Marion Morrison had a dog Marion named his dog Duke Marion Morrison went to Hollywood Hollywood named Morrison John Wayne Morrison didn't care for...
- Read more about I Call Myself Ice
- Log in to post comments
- 556 reads
Teach to the Top
I was driving by a local high school yesterday when I saw this frightening message on the billboard in front of the school: TEACH TO THE TOP. Okkayy...
- Read more about Teach to the Top
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 728 reads
An Itch As Big As A Banger
George Fern woke up one morning with a terrible itch. George had been losing weight which was good but retaining water which was not so good. George...
- Read more about An Itch As Big As A Banger
- Log in to post comments
- 405 reads
December in Carolina
I went for a walk this morning. When I returned to the house Lynn asked me about the weather. I said "the weather is beautiful if we are in Rochester...
- Read more about December in Carolina
- Log in to post comments
- 312 reads
No Lightbulb in the Lamp
We went to see Dr. Sleep in Birkdale yesterday. The "movie" would have been a lot better if it had been offered as a three parter on Netflix.....too...
- Read more about No Lightbulb in the Lamp
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 494 reads
Sighs and Secrets in the Dark
This is the promised continuation and conclusion of No LIghbulb in the Lamp
- Read more about Sighs and Secrets in the Dark
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 487 reads
Lack of Focus in Theater 5
Focus is a primary asset of Attention Surplus Syndrome (ASS). We ASSes have the ability to intensely focus our attention sensually as well as...
- Read more about Lack of Focus in Theater 5
- Log in to post comments
- 291 reads
Oh Susannah (part one)
When I was a child, I believed everything I heard on radio or teevee. I believed that the United States was fighting against gorillas in Korea. I...
- Read more about Oh Susannah (part one)
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 576 reads
Oh Susannah (Part 2)
For awhile, I had aspirations of becoming an Eagle Scout. I had the Boy Scout Manual which described all of the requirements for any merit badge...
- Read more about Oh Susannah (Part 2)
- 6 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1122 reads
Filler Up With Rosebuds
What would our lives look like if we eliminated the filler? Our lives would look like movies. One of the essential reason we go to the movies is to...
- Read more about Filler Up With Rosebuds
- 3 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1025 reads
Small Crowd at Tiny Tim's
There's not enough room in this Christmas house For me, my wife and her autonomy. We've got eight bedrooms, four cats and a mouse She holds a degree...
- Read more about Small Crowd at Tiny Tim's
- Log in to post comments
- 277 reads
Max In The Present, Past and Future
It was Christmas Eve and Max was in the midst of his first thousand steps. Each and every step was still a big deal. All the relatives would call Max...
- Read more about Max In The Present, Past and Future
- 12 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1517 reads
Full Filler
The engineer has the indomitability to rise again and ask the most basic and devilish question. "So, what's it about?" This is my answer and I hope...
- Read more about Full Filler
- 1 comment
- Log in to post comments
- 458 reads
Fulfilled
We had been overwhelmed. We had cursed our coming creation. Get the goddamned thing over with. We resisted the urge to push. We were Full and ready...
- Read more about Fulfilled
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 898 reads
Bighorn on the Rocks
*/ Forty plus years ago, on a startling, clear August afternoon, I was smack dab in the middle of everywhere, the Grizzly Mountains of Montana. To be...
- Read more about Bighorn on the Rocks
- 3 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 876 reads
Mitzi's Slice of Life
Today was gonna be a lucky day for somebody, most likely Fritz. Mitzi slept in and was in no rush so she took her sweet time doing her makeup. She...
- Read more about Mitzi's Slice of Life
- Log in to post comments
- 415 reads
The Next Stage
I love it when I visit someone who knows how to play the piano. Eventually, when they feel like it, they'll go over to the keyboard and start to play...
- Read more about The Next Stage
- Log in to post comments
- 323 reads
Not A Grouch After All
This is my 600th essay. I didn't want to rush into this number so I took my time and then it arrived........
- Read more about Not A Grouch After All
- Log in to post comments
- 340 reads
Our Tuesday Weekends
The worst thing about retirement is the loss of weekends. Some insist that when we retire all we have are weekends but I have learned differently...
- Read more about Our Tuesday Weekends
- 5 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1170 reads
Flower Guy
Twenty years ago I persevered through one of my favorite rituals, the annual Valentine’s Day masculinity panic. As of 2:50 PM on that fabled...
- Read more about Flower Guy
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 514 reads
Horndog Max
In his ongoing efforts to produce fudged statistics to sell to Cosmopolitan magazine, Jem Masters felt that he had to do at least some research. He...
- Read more about Horndog Max
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 563 reads
Playing Checkers with Elton John
One day long ago, when Holcomb still existed and 15 years before Apollo, I was playing checkers with my grandpa on the porch of his small home next...
- Read more about Playing Checkers with Elton John
- 7 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 1514 reads
A Pinch of Salt
*/ Folks do thangs a little different down in the mountains of Southwestern, New York. They like to keep things simple. When Tim and Lois were...
- Read more about A Pinch of Salt
- 3 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 551 reads
Ice Bowls Part 1
*/ Yesterday Lynn asked me a very tantalizing question. “Do you feel like going bowling today?” After twenty plus years without it, I had pretty much...
- Read more about Ice Bowls Part 1
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 521 reads
Ice Bowls 2
*/ I almost tripped when I stepped on the bowling lane. Back in the day, we had to step up from the scoring area to reach the lane. Here the lane was...
- Read more about Ice Bowls 2
- 2 comments
- Log in to post comments
- 503 reads