A retelling of Aesop’s The Wolf and the Lion
The money was in a La Palina box under a floorboard in the closet. At first, Fitz had it under the mattress but reconsidered. It was the first place someone would look — if they realized there was anything to find.
The old man didn’t have any relatives, no one else to sit with him while he died. He might have realized Fitz was a stranger but with the tubes down his throat, who could he tell?
And indeed he seemed content for Fitz to hold his hand while he looked through milky white eyes at the water-marked ceiling.
The…
Alone with your thoughts…and the javelinas
A road trip where the land falls away
opens me up every time.
At a gas station stop for a snack and a coke,
I stretch like a cat.
There will be no more stops for one hundred miles.
It is one hundred degrees.
No matter.
These stingy trees, this parsimonious green will show me the way.
This is where the Yucca with its swordlike leaves and white flowers
gave food, medicine, and soap to native peoples. …
Your immune-compromised friends will thank you, really!
O.K. Let’s get to it.
Your friend tells you that they have just been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. Do you:
A.) Tell them about someone you know with the same disease who had to have their colon/spleen/brain removed and are now a literal shell of their former selves?
B.) Give them the full benefit of your internet research on diet and exercise as well as that one book that Oprah was raving about. Bonus points if you talk about the People Magazine article you read about how Gwyneth Paltrow’s sea kelp smoothies have actually restored her digestion system to…
It’s my inner life only that *might* make a good reality show
Although I truly enjoy reading other people’s profiles here, I have procrastinated endlessly about writing my own. I wonder if it’s like trying to come up with a dating profile when you are literally interested in hanging out with anyone and everyone. Maybe not, but here goes nothing —
The non-reality show material:
I grew up in Tennessee, went to college in Virginia, came back to Tennessee for my first job and then, rather randomly, ended up in Southeast Texas. I do, however, love Texas and don’t see leaving anytime soon. My blood has thinned, I’m a wimp about cold…
A glimpse into life at the Rio Grande some 4,000 years ago
Everyone loves a mystery.
This one involves an extinct people and the evidence of the culture that they left behind.
I’ve written about some of our state and national park adventures on the Weeds & Wildflowers site before. This one happened last summer during our journey through southwest Texas at Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site, which borders the Rio Grande River.
Reading about the Fate Bell Shelter and its pictographs — paintings on the rock walls — cemented my desire to visit, despite the July heat.
From the Texas State Historical Association:
The shelter, which is a state…
You'll get there again!
She really should have gotten his permission
At first, Greta thought it was a toner problem.
The printer spat out blank page after blank page even as she stared at the black words on the screen before her.
Her finished novel. The Last Words of Luther Wickens. Five long years of hard work. Luther had been such a difficult character to bring to life. She’d had to tease him out, slowly.
His story was one that had been pieced together a thousand different ways before she finally got it right.
On Saturday Greta bought new toner. Still, clean white pages. No words on them.
Her frustration mounting…
The village children hope she can stick with…
A little less moody…but just as possessive
I chose Buddy (formerly Zachary) for the most superficial of reasons. He was so damn handsome. It was the same motivation that drove my pursuit of other males in the past, but my advantage was insurmountable with this one. Buddy was a rescue dog, and we passed the background check at the shelter.
Was he particularly excited about it? Not really. In fact, he wasn’t very warm with any of my family in the visitation room, but he wasn’t antagonistic either. In retrospect, maybe resigned was the right word.
At the time, I chalked up any unusual behavior to the…
Found my profile? Here’s a sampler
I’ve been on this platform for about six months now. If Medium is a puzzle, I think I’ve only solved about 15 percent of it as far as what gets seen, and by whom. I have found some great content though, so it’s definitely worth what I’d spend on a cup of coffee each month to have access.
However, it’s not going to be a big moneymaker for me, no matter how many articles I read about “1K in 1 Month on Medium” or “Red Bull Your Way to Revenue.” And that’s OK. …
