Stories

Six Words: Banish, Insight, Calorie, Overview, Explode, Retire

If family members had had the insight right after the retirement party that they do now, things would have been very different. They would have made a much greater effort to banish excess calories. They wouldn’t have settled for a simple overview of what a normal diet should be at that time of life. They would have delved deeper into the details. No one knew, until after it happened and they were literally picking up the pieces, that a person could actually explode! And just like Humpty Dumpty, they could not put all the pieces together again.

Six Words: Concession, Quota, Disclose, Lighter, Morning, Advantage

The sun rose. It did that every morning. Outside the window, the sky was getting lighter. It was not usually a cause for alarm. Not so today. Today the sunrise brought with it terror. On this last morning of their trial period, each of the reps were comparing their sales to their quotas. Later in the day, they would have to disclose their numbers. Those that failed to meet their quotas could only hope for a concession, although rumors were that concessions were never given. This month might be different though.

In every business, there is a boss, and often a bosses boss, and maybe a bosses bosses boss. Somewhere in the chain of bosses there are people that can make exceptions and concessions. In this group of trainees, one of them had the same unusual name that could be found in the hierarchy of bosses. No one had noticed it until last night when they had gathered, like gladiators before entering the arena, knowing that some would survive the next day and some would not.

The confluence of names though, brought hope. They all knew that the trainee with the matching name was the least likely to have met their quota. But the name might indicate an advantage, probably a relationship. If a concession were made because of nepotism for one trainee, shouldn’t a concession be made for others. Is the world a fair place?

Six Words: Defeat, Accurate, Publicity, Familiar, Replace, Sickness

Scientific research and pharmaceutical companies have made great strides in defeating familiar and even unfamiliar sicknesses. When a new vaccine or drug is developed for a medical condition, it usually gets a lot of publicity. For chronic conditions, the publicity often comes from the drug manufacturers, trying to recoup and profit from their discovery, as well as to help the people impacted by the malady.

It would not be accurate to say that we have defeated disease. We’re lucky to have brilliant minds working on treating more of them, but sadly, as we’ve seen recently with vaccines, too many people are currently attacking the scientists and scientific institutions. How many people are discouraged from entering those fields? How much progress is being delayed?

Six Words: Betray, Corruption, Ambiguity, Subject, Contrary, Kidney

There is no doubt about it. There is a reason that the politician is the subject of multiple investigations. He betrayed the public trust through corruption and in other ways. There is no ambiguity. No matter how much he argues to the contrary, twisting things into kidney-like arguments, the justice system is straightening things out. The republic will survive and public trust in government will be restored.

Six Words: Intensify, Studio, Oven, Stubborn, Multiply, Recession

The artist’s studio near Terlingua
gives a view that changes with the seasons,
not the way views change in the Texas Hill Country
or the Piney Woods,
where trees change colors
and drop leaves
and sprout new ones.
Not the way bluebonnets
and Indian blankets
and other colorful wildflowers
appear in spring along Texas highways.

No, out here in the Big Bend area,
colors and textures intensify,
recede,
multiply
as the sun moves northward,
then southward.
Temperatures change from oven-like highs
to freezer-like lows.
Some people think the views change
because of the changes in the length of daylight.
Others think the changes
depend on the temperature.
Still others think
it is because of change itself.
All tend to be stubborn
in their opinions.
To the artist
and the occasional guest,
the reasons don’t matter at all.
It is simply that it happens
that brings them here.

Six Words: Housewife, Indulge, Academy, Congress, Perfect, Duty

Given these words, my first impulse was to write an R-rated story about the perfect housewife who would know her duties, including engaging enthusiastically in marital congress, as if she were a graduate of an academy of housewifery. As you can tell, I’ve restrained myself and did not indulge my first impulse to write that R-rated story. This probably comes close enough.

Six Words: Oppose, Intensify, Banish, Border, Terminal, Definition

When I was a junior and senior in college in Chicago, a fraternity brother, Neil, was dating a cute, thin young woman named Bobbi. Bobbi often had a cough, and occasionally was ill for extended periods of time. Neil was a year ahead of me in school. I didn’t know him or Bobbi well and I was focused on school and ping pong and my own social ineptness.

Read More »65 Roses (After the Miracle from article in April 2024 The Atlantic)

Six Words: Facade, Notion, Despise, Rocket, Multimedia, Habit

Many, many people around the world got in the habit of using Twitter to get instant news, to read opinions, and to post their own opinions. And then Elon Musk got the notion that he should buy Twitter and change its name. With Musk, it is hard to tell what is genuine and what is a facade. But what is true, is that many people despise him and would like to see him put in one of his rockets and fired off to Mars. Undoubtedly, he’d recognize the opportunity to make it a multimedia event and to accrue even more wealth. I have to admit, though, that in Musk’s case, he and his giant ego really is worth billions.

Six Words: Characteristic, Rotation, Satisfied, Article, Unfair, Earthquake

As the reporter whose rotation put me on duty during the uncharacteristic earthquake in the area, I thought it was unfair that I would have to write many articles about the event to keep the publisher satisfied, rather than helping people recover.

Six Words: Wilderness, Essay, Design, Advertising, Compartment, Rider

I suppose for many people educated in America, if they are asked if they know who Thoreau is, they would say something like he is a poet and an author who wrote essays about the wilderness. If you look for books by Thoreau, the cover design of older versions is almost certain to include a tree, while newer versions often contain a picture of him. Trees are featured in advertising for a movie titled Henry David Thoreau: Surveyor of the Soul, which is about his time at Walden Pond and his impact on environmental issues and on civil rights.

He built a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond, that had only a single compartment. You can see a one room cabin today by riding out to Commons Ford Ranch Metropolitan Park here in Austin. It probably belonged to one of the original ranchers. There are many questions that arise when you see an actual one room cabin. One of those question is how did families living in a one room cabin have more than one child. I wonder if that is a question that Thoreau pondered, but only abstractly, since he never married nor had children.