Stories

Six Words: Kidney, Eyebrow, Unit, Protest, Quantity, Pupil

Once upon a time, a small boy lived on a small farm alongside a small road. Being a small boy, the small farm seemed big to him. Very big. The sky at night over the small farm alongside the small road seemed even bigger, because, of course, it was bigger, much bigger.

The sky at night was black. Very black. The quantity of stars that were visible at night to the small boy on the small farm alongside the small road were uncountable. Because it was so dark at night, the pupils in his eyes grew very big. He could see even more stars than his parents, who lived with him on the small farm alongside the small road under the very big sky. The eyebrows of his parents, especially his father, sometimes got in the way when they looked at the stars in the very big, very black sky over the small farm alongside the small road.

One day, not at night, but during the day, the small boy on the small farm alongside the small road saw a package on the counter of the small kitchen in his small house on the small farm alongside the small road. The package said “kidney bean packets enclosed, 12 units”.

He remembered a story that his parents had read him at bedtime when the very big sky was very black over the small farm alongside the small road. He took a kidney bean, just one, and planted it in the dirt outside his window. He watched it and watered it every day. Soon it began to grow. And grow, And grow. It grew taller and it grew wider. The kidney bean plant reached his window sill. Then it reached the top of his window. Then it reached the roof of the house.

His parents told the small boy that his kidney bean plant had grown too big for their small farm alongside the small road. They told the small boy that he was going to have to harvest the very tall, very wide kidney bean plant that was outside his window in the small house on the small farm alongside the small road.

“No!” protested the small boy using a very big voice. “My plant is going to reach the stars in the very big, very black sky over our small house on our small farm alongside the small road. And then I will climb all the way to the top of the very wide, very tall kidney bean plant and I will catch a star.”

His parents smiled. They remembered a story too, about a boy who planted a bean and climbed it to get to a pot of gold. The parents said to the small boy on the small farm alongside the small road, “OK, you can keep the bean stalk Jack.”

Six Words: Squeeze, Freshman, Possibility, Spit, Picture, Crevice

We all know that college students, especially if young men are involved, sometimes do foolish things. Fraternities are especially known for this.

One group that I heard about, drove to a spit sticking out into Lake Travis, with their freshman brothers to check the possibility of squeezing all of them into a crevice in the rocks that formed the spit. Can you imagine if someone had gotten stuck? Would the rescuers have had to spray them with WD40 to get them out. Can you just picture it? Maybe they should have coated them with Crisco before squeezing them in.

Six Words: Established, Feedback, Frog, Franchise, Charter, Single

It started out when I captured a single frog and kept it as a pet. Feedback from friends, over many years, led to the idea of opening a pet store that specializes in frogs. It was a success! The business grew and I had to expand into a larger store, and then a larger store with a pretty spectacular pond.

The frog business was so successful that I thought about establishing franchises. The first step in the franchise process was to write a charter for the stores, so that every store would have the same goals, policies and practices. One of the policies was that anyone asking for a recipe for frog legs was immediately ejected from the business and their photo posted on our wall of shame. But we never told them to go croak.

Six Words: Ash, Vegetarian, Era, Sensitivity, Outline, Shift

We are living in a time of shifting sensitivities. That’s no secret. But can we say that we are in an era of shifting sensitivities? Has there ever been a time when sensitivities have not been shifting?

When did people start becoming vegetarian? Or vegan? Or concerned about animal rights? Or women’s rights? Or race? Or religious bias? What happened to the actual ERA – the Equal Rights Amendment?

Could we draw an outline around the time that we’d say we our sensitivities have shifted more extremely? Was there a difference between the sensitivities in the Obama era compared to the Trump era? Was one better than the other?

Is it time to cover ourselves in ashes like Job or the king of Ninevah as a sign of repentance? Instead of ashes, can we repent by voting.

Six Words: Invasion, Victory, Hardship, Evolution, Equinox, Arrangement

As the spring equinox approached, and the hardships of living in a war zone because of the Russian invasion continued to evolve, the family made arrangements for their children to live in America until Ukraine achieved victory.

Six Words: Problem, Artificial, Prove, X-ray, Wound, Steak

It didn’t take an x-ray to prove that the wound was a real problem, not an artificial one. When the clothing was removed, it looked like raw steak. The injured person couldn’t see the injury herself, so she didn’t understand why her roommate fainted.

Six Words: Productive, Video, Print, Paralyzed, Citizen, Overview

She thought she was being a good citizen when she wrote the letter to the editor and was delighted when she saw it in print. It turned out to be more productive than she could have imagined when she was asked to expand it into an op-ed.

Soon, she was asked by a local network to make a video where she would give an overview of the article. It was during that video interview that she froze, completely paralyzed, in front of a live audience. Fame might have been fleeting, if it wasn’t being broadcast live. Instead, like a bear and forest fires, her picture became the image for the phrase “A deer freezing in the headlights”.

Six Words: Relaxation, Huge, Celebration, Connection, Needle, Moving

There was no relaxation time for the host in the days leading up to the huge celebration. Connections were planned between the theme of the event and the food that would be served. Everything was moving in the right direction. She’d been so focused on the planning and the preparation for so long, that her friends were needling her that she’d become a recluse because she was so focused.

Six Words: Exotic, Minority, Landowner, Video, Community, Posture

There was nothing particularly exotic about the new neighbors, although they were clearly a minority in this community. They just wanted to be homeowners like everyone else. We didn’t know whether they had any particular posture on politics or religion or anything else, but there were a few landowners who had a bias against anyone who was at all different. As a precaution, I helped them setup a video monitoring system around their house.

Six Words: Comment, Debut, Fluctuation, Feature, Oral, Transfer

There is an awkward time in the life of every boy in the tween years. There may be growth spurts which everyone notices and can’t be hidden. But there is another feature that changes, that can lead to awkward moments and that boys hope are never noticed as they transfer from boyhood to manhood. Not every boy finds himself in an awkward situation where the embarrassment may occur, but because of reasons they can’t control, it happens to some.

The worst time is when a young man makes a debut speech in front of a class or a school assembly or his bar mitzvah. He never knows whether his voice will fluctuate between his new, deeper tones and a squeak. Usually people pretend to ignore the oral surprise and don’t comment on it afterward. But some can’t help but giggle or even laugh out loud.