(re-run) Chuck drove his powder blue Bonneville Pontiac to pick up his new girlfriend for their drive-in movie date during his senior year of high school. He had tricked out the interior of the car with his two taxidermy quail on a bed of shag carpeting in the car’s back window. When he drove his… Continue reading Chuck’s Drive-in Movie Date
Month: May 2025
Drive-in Movie Blues
(re-run) Linda was a freshman that summer and and would start high school in the fall. She was doing summer stock at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa. The play was Bye Bye Birdie, and she was playing the part of a show girl. Jeff, one of the good-looking stage hands, drove a blue ’66… Continue reading Drive-in Movie Blues
I’m Glad I Asked
(re-run) The other day I went to the dermatologist for the second time in two months. The physician’s assistant from the first appointment gave me a full body skin check since I’ve had melanoma. When I pointed out the strange colorless bump above my eye, she said, “I don’t do eyes. Go see the other… Continue reading I’m Glad I Asked
Wiener Dog Versus Rat
(re-run) Long ago, when I had three school-aged children off at their respective schools, I sat at my desk writing during the quiet of the day, when I heard the Dachshund barking. He was somewhere in our spacious half-acre back yard. I ignored it at first, but when the barking didn’t subside, I decided I’d… Continue reading Wiener Dog Versus Rat
Easy Rider
(re-run) – Today we shopped at a different Trader Joe’s and the clerk told me, when I said she looked familiar, that she had a Midwestern face, and I said I did, too, and she asked where I was from and I said Iowa, and she said, Me, too, and she’s from Adel, and I’m… Continue reading Easy Rider
Lost, Then Found
My cousin died at a young age. She was an artist and had given everyone in the family a piece of art she did, a preying mantis. An insect, and a creepy one at that. She gave it to me in 1979. Somehow, somewhere, I ditched the bug. Then she died, and I regretted giving… Continue reading Lost, Then Found
The Day I Found my Voice
(re-run) When you’re in the dog house, you are in trouble. You’ve done something bad. As a child, I was never in the dog house because we didn’t have one. We didn’t even have a dog. My mother had her own strain of weird expressions that she said to us kids on a regular basis,… Continue reading The Day I Found my Voice
Philosopher at Ace Hardware
I was buying wood glue, potting soil and spray paint primer. The clerk asked how it was going and I said fine. I asked him how it was going for him, and he said he was over it, a weird response. Then I flipped over my bag of potting soil which had landed upside down… Continue reading Philosopher at Ace Hardware
One Night, Seventeen Babies
When our daughter came out, covered in dark hair just like her dad, the nurse slapped an i.d. tag on her tiny little foot. For some reason I reached over to read it.
Getting Away from all the No, No, No’s
(re-run) My mother, bless her heart, had to keep five children in line, mostly by herself. She did it by keeping everyone in his or her place, as in, “No, you can’t do that!” I just found out that my younger sister also wanted to play clarinet in the band, like I did. But I… Continue reading Getting Away from all the No, No, No’s
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 