Category: Short Story
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Love and Healing
Dreaming of nomadic travels roaming our planet, searching for tranquil moments surrounded by nature.
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Saguaro National Park East, Again
I have returned with more of my desert hiking experiences forthcoming.
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Happy New Year, 2023
I wish everyone’s dreams, desires, and expectations to become a reality in 2023 and beyond.
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Retiree anniversary
I once was a hard-working, career-minded son, military personnel, husband, father, civil service worker to survive and enjoy the fruits of forty years of work/hard labor since the age of eight. I’m currently a highly-skilled veteran retiree who travels full-time in an RV relishing in the beauty of each day I awake. I have a…
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The wisdom of 4-questions; “part-2, short story”
We have begun every day with a sideways kiss ( you know overnight bad breath and all ) and a hug.
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The wisdom of 4-dating questions. (Short story) part-2
We have begun our day with a sideways kiss ( you know bad breath and all ) and a hug.
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The wisdom of 4-dating questions. (Short story) 2-parts
Mom, when did you actually know you were in love with dad?
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"Wintering in the Florida Everglades."
Human Snow Birds retreat to the warmer climates mimicking mother natures migration
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PCT 2019 people and animals
Among the thousands of people hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2019, there are also animals, and photographer, Andrew Burns. He is not hiking the trail, but he is developing a photo picture book of hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail. You can follow his current work on Instagram at PCT People Project. Then there are the…
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“2019 Pacific Crest Trail Days.”
We are sleeping inside a pup-tent for the very first time together.
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“My nomadic travel origins,”
One aspect I thought of was my self-diagnosis of having a hyperactive personality with a dose of attention deficit disorder. :-)
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“Fellow World Travelers.”
It is always great meeting fellow travelers who seek nomadic adventures as we are a unique tribe of people whose experiences of the open road brings joys to our hearts.
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“Their love is with me forever.”
I recently viewed the movie trailer “Green Book” scheduled for November 21, 2018, release in the US, and it triggered my thoughts about my travels across the US during my lifetime. I was moved emotionally as I thought of my parents who suffered through their fears, worries, and concern for my safety in the 1980’s…
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“Chipmunks Everywhere!”
I was taking a short day hike around the campground in Collier Memorial Park in Oregon when I met another camper/traveler and our conversation turned to current events. It was unique how on August 25, 2018, neither one of us were aware of current events, and in so many ways I felt it was a…
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“Angry voice of gratitude.”
I will never forget the sunny Monday morning inside the coffee shop, knowing you had seen me dozens if not hundreds of times reading the new paper. But on this particular morning, your cheerful smiling hello sparked my day of depression its hope when you agreed to hike a local trail with me. I was…
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“Table talk.” (short Story)
The town of Creighton New Hampshire was to celebrate the 1948 class reunion of the small towns only high school with 43 of the original 97 class members still alive. On Friday morning the weekend of the festivities at the Jenkins diner, in Creighton New Hampshire an elderly man enters shuffling along in search of a…
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“Fathers Day.”
Today men all over America are celebrating Father’s Day spending time with their families, throwing a ball in the yard or enjoying a quiet day they all deserve. My father, taught me by example that every day is “Fathers Day” because my father worked consistently, rarely taking a day off, never taking a vacation, leaving…
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“Juxtapose, the yearly ceremony.”
Again, as usual, I am seated watching the archaic traditions leaving no assumptions for what is to happen at this ceremony that has been held every year since 1877. I glance around to see the awkward familiar faces and, I imagine many other narcissists have gathered here guiltily pretending to care, making this entire ordeal infectiously…
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Arizona’s Route 89A, a scenic drive.
Everyone who visits Arizona always recommends the Grand Canyon and their next recommendation is usually the city of Sedona AZ to see the picturesque red mountains surrounding the town. Many travelers use some form of an electronic map on their cellular phone or the built-in mapping system in their vehicle providing the most economical way…
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“Appreciating natural surroundings.”
Usually, on the weekends mostly during the morning hours, a hiking trail fills with groups of people flaunting their newly purchased hiking and backpacking gear. These groups move along in packs of ten or more resembling a social bubble with verbal noise drowning out the beauty of songbirds chirping from the trees above. Many within…
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“Astonished tantrum.”
I have witnessed unbelievable angry tantrums and lost tempers by toddlers, children, teenagers, and adults. But, during a lovely wedding, I watched a 5’4″, 160-pound, grey-haired woman, with bright red lipstick and crimson rouge applied to her cheeks, in her mid to late eighties. I have heard her calmly tell anyone she was age sixty-five. …
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“Vaguely bestowed history.” (short story)
Ms, Charlotte Wetzler, was seated on the main stage, looking out upon well over 500-hundred guests who are her former students and the recipients of her 42- years of teaching eight and ninth grade American and World history. Accompanying the stage with Ms. Wetzler are members of her school’s administration, School board members, politicians and…
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“Rubber Mallet.” ( short story)
With each swing of the mallet, I pound the spike deeper into the ground. Anger, jealousy, envy, and hate fuels my swings but, I cannot stop pounding the spike more profoundly into the ground until my arm and shoulder begin to ache as tears and sweat streaming along my cheeks. I hear the faint echo…
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“Montgomery Alabama.”
On a cold rainy spring day, I toured several critical locations in the city of Mongomery Alabama which is ground zero of the Civil Rights Era in America. In 1877 the Dexter St. Baptist Church was founded when congregants moved from the First Colored Baptist Church in Montgomery Al. In 1954, at 26-years of age,…
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“Our timeless love.”
Our family, our children, forty years we made. The mind-numbing daily routine we made. Our separate sleeping bedrooms we agreed. Because of commitments, our love has become veiled from one another, allowing our hearts to become etched hallowed caves. Our separate cars to attend church we agreed. Our time for one another is thwarted with…
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“Radiant eyes.”
From the time, I saw her from across the dance floor, I was tranced into seeing them closer. Standing in front of her, I was awakened by her voice with my mouth opened breathing heavy, I was mesmerized by a uniquely beautiful pair of eyes. When I spoke, I was happy with her politeness…
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Betrayed and frantic, I think not!”
Since Feb I have enjoyed and settled into the Florida warmth, and because of cold temperatures, I used my backpacking pants’ less than a week. As March winds to an end, my mind repeatedly drifts to traveling the roads in the vast western US and hiking/backing treelined canopy trails. Although my focus has been to…
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“Identical.”
Every day since forever, I have seen you, and we are identical twins. I look into your eyes, and I see the mirror image of me. I have seen pictures of you, and you look like me. Your cheekbones, lips, eyebrows, and chin are all like mine. We are identical twins? As far back as…
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“Blushed.”
Casandra entered the room, and I could not make eye contact, She walks past my table, and I look down at my paper, I sensed a connection, but I’m too shy to speak. Brian will not notice me when I walk into the classroom. He will not acknowledge me with eye contact. I walk past…
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“The wisdom of patience.”
I can remember as far back as a kindergartener, hearing my mother, father, siblings, friends, and teachers, telling me, or writing in the margins of a report card, “Slow Down.” On many occasions throughout my life, I was told I need to develop and hopefully discover some patience. “Slow down,” is the repetitive word I…
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“Time to return to the trails.”
As the days of March wind down and I continue editing, re-editing and repeating the process of my short stories. The recent cold weather in Southwest Florida provoked a wrinkle in my ability to sit outside and write. So, I traded in my shorts, tank top, and flip-flops for my long pants and long sleeve…
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“Meander.”
During my lifetime of travel along the back roads, my reason to stop is best described as “distracted.” by what my eyes witness and I want to learn and discover the details of my initial distraction. I developed this type of travel during my twenty-five plus years of riding my touring motorcycle across the US…
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“Suddenly there is no sound.”
Suddenly there is no sound of the trail, but I feel and hear my heart pounding after my climb to summit the small peak of 2500 feet. My breathing slows matching the calmness surrounding me, and I pause to absorb the silence. I have replaced my forty hour work week noises of voices, car horns…
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“A Grey Nomads Gap Years.”
My plan for the day was to set up somewhere along the beach to write and read all day on a picnic bench under a shelter looking out onto the Gulf of Mexico. My location today is called the “Little Hickory Island Beach Park” located in Bonita Springs FL 34134. The park is a sliver of…
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Astral Congregation
At the beach, or in the park, the morning blend of sites and sounds coupled with the warm sunrise temperatures to sooth the skin adds to the beauty of the day ahead,. Sparrows, warblers, and finches chirp with enthusiasm along with the morning doves cooing to one another adding to the softness of the morning as I watch…
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“Travel guts: A special mode of travel.”
For over forty years I have traveled around the US for which my family and friends were astonished by the journey and marveled at the destinations completed on a motorcycle. My mother, forbid me to tell her when, or where I was going but demanded I call her immediately upon my returned home. Adventure travelers…
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“Valentines Day of love”
Well, it has come around again the commercially celebrated Valentines Day of love. It is the erotic, exotic, enticing, inspirational day for the expression and confession of love for one or more particular persons or ourselves. I write this blog post watching the sunrise from Smathers Beach in Key West Florida on this yearly holiday…
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“Wedding anniversaries and a birthday: part #3” (Final)
The twins and Johnathan are in the rear seat of the car with their father at the wheel, as they travel along their driveway from their home to the main road. Johnathan is pitifully staring out the window wondering where they are going when his mother turns around in her front passenger seat to tell…
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“Wedding anniversaries and a birthday: part #2”
At 4:45 pm, their father, Jefferson Wheeler, was a third-generation farmer, who stood six-foot, seven-inches tall, with muscular arms, and a matching barrel chest. He was a hardworking, strict disciplinarian, and his deep baritone bass voice commanded the attention of everyone when he spoke. When he drove his tractor into the barn, he saw the…
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“Wedding anniversaries and a birthday: part #1.”
It was 4:30 pm on a western Nebraska farm, in the summer of 1969 with the humid July winds blowing as usual while the Wheeler twins Jason and Jacob who were age six and digging a hole in the backyard of their parent’s farm. Their 15-year old brother Johnathan was driving one of the families…
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“Inscrutable trill silhouetted in front of me.”
I was scared almost out of my seat when Sister Abigale screamed at the top of her lungs forcing all of the fifth-grade students to stared forward, but it was apparent the class prankster, Abraham Jefferson had been up to no good as he snickered and laughed aloud. Her anger was expected, as her voice trilled…
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“I’m candid, fairly agile living on island time.”
I was born and raised in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York, and the first time I saw photos of a beach, I dreamed of living on an island. As a teenager and college student, I was a formidable long distance runner with the agility of a Gazel, but my burning desire to live on…
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“The next dominant generation.”
I am a part of what some people call the greatest generation. When I consider how my parents who lived with nothing close to the conveniences I enjoyed as a child, progressing through my teenage years into becoming an adult, I’m proud to have survived based on today’s standards. I survive childhood without car seats,…
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“Blink.”
Fortunately, during my lifetime I have recorded hundreds of hours of video with accompanied thousands of photos of my now adult children. My recorded library reveals decades of family and friends, moments in time to include births, birthdays, milestone accomplishments, critical life-changing events, marriages, family reunions and yes even death. Viewing my recorded library of…
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“Study.”
As the college semester comes to an end, the mood of the students on the entire campus becomes stressfully solemn. Every nook and cranny is occupied as students seek silent locations for studying to assure themselves a grade worthy of not repeating the class. The University recommends study groups, flowcharts, diagrams, practicing old exams, recording themselves…
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“Loophole.”
For twenty years’ or more, the theater’s dancers have taken a ten-minute break every hour during any rehearsal no matter how long they rehearsed. Three months into the theater season a pre-law student dancer read the complete contract and discovered a nutritious meal is supposed to be served during any rehearsals over four hours. When…
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“Winsome Characters.”
When a child is born, they are an unwritten computer program learning from parents teachers and society. M. J. Leake
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“Viable at any age.”
Mel and Susan Hubbard a married couple were sitting on a park bench after walking three miles along the beach which they do every other day when Susan tells Mel, Happy anniversary. Mel reaches into his jacket pocket and hands Susan a wedding anniversary card. As Susan reads the card, Mel says aloud. One hundred…
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“Cozy Confessions.”
My thirty plus years of travel destinations are filled with photos and encountering people who are the inspirations for some of my creative writings ideas. In the beginning, I traveled via motorcycle across the US from coast to coast and border to border culminating with an inspiring road trip from Key West Florida to Fairbanks Alaska…
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Grandparents & Parents Revelations: A love story
Kevin and Katelynn Crawford age 38 and 39 are a couple with seven children. They have twin four year- olds, a 6, 8, 10, 12, & a 13-year-old teenager. They are a very active family with all of their children participating in some form of after-school athletic activities. The couple amazes their family, friends,…
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“Legendary Inheritance.”
Fifteen years have passed since international Dodgeball star Lucas Leonard Lopez was seen on the court. However, his eldest son Lewis Leonard Lopez has followed in his father’s footsteps playing Dodgeball and graduating from his father’s alma-mater Potemkin University where he has led the Dodgeball team to four NCAA championships. The young phenom has chosen…
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“Atmospheric; A Short story”
Three months ago Jill and I decided to take a break with a tropical island weekend getaway. On our last evening, I dressed adorned in my best island attire complete with an island decorative asher blue shirt with large dark blue orchids, a pair of tan Bermuda shorts, and my brown leather open-toed sandals. Jill…
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“Droolling mushroom hunters.”
Hiking in the great northwest of the US brings you into contact with many types of people. My first encounter with mushroom hunters began with the honk of a horn from a passenger van when I slowed on the roadway searching for a turn to a hiking trailhead near Mount Hood National Forest. I pulled…
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“Music’s dubious riffs.”
During our annual concert, my high school’s jazz ensemble was playing before a packhouse of parents, students political dignitaries. We played several pieces that excited the whole audience who stood to applaud our performances. Our final piece was always my favorite as the first chair trumpet began their solo riff followed by the dueling solo…
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“Centenarian love, passion, marriage, and dancing.”
The annual sweetheart’s dance has become a coveted gala event for the 190 residents at the “Living Years Village.” And again for the third year in a row Edgar and Elizabeth Harden gingerly, soft-shoed around the dance floor strutting to the harmonizing tunes of their 1940’s big band favorites. The residents seated at their dinner…
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“Faintly simmering and being beckoned.”
I stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching my mother cooking and preparing the Thanksgiving dinner as I drooled with excitement wanting to sneak a lick of the bowls she recently mixed the german chocolate cake and its accompanying frosting. Although the aromas of faintly simmering pots filled with potatoes, assorted greens, and the…
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“Ghoulish.”
I have never really liked Halloween since the horrible calamity of 1975, for which my father tells the story with the smiling gleefulness of a teenager like it was yesterday. The events of that night have left me traumatically scared for which I have endured nightmares until this day. I was a child only 5-years…
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“Mirrored Gratitude.”
With their annual Halloween party two days away, Erica stood in the mirror admiring her Cleopatra costume. She adjusted the black wig with a gold beaded headpiece while marveling at the matching earrings and choker necklace. She began studying the costumes sleeveless top with brightly colored gold pyramid sequined edgings, and she moved closer towards…
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“Identifying Trademarks.”
The identifying trademarks were visible when the border officer lifted the tarp to reveal the cylindrical barrel. This story began after my best friend Charles and I attended the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders Football game Nov 16, 1997. Charles and I met and became close friends when we were 23-years-old, in the Marine…
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“A tentative short story.”
Recreating a time from the past can be an adventure. Malcolm & Ethel Marshall, lived thirty-three wonderful years in a beautifully appointed retirement transitional housing community. They both retired at the ages of 67 and 65, and they are parents of three adult children, grandchildren and a couple of great-grandchildren. They were veterans of the…
Expedition Nomadic Adventures 