A Daring Plan For The Future — Elan Juan Martinez sat cross-legged before the fire, staring pensively into the flames. His sons Nantan and Nitis sat on either side of him, and their sons sat across from them. There had passed nearly a week since the death of Juan Baptiste Martinez Gonzales, Elan’s revered father. The Apache…

Gone Fishing — As I snuck away in the wee hours of the morning, I wondered if anyone would ever know what really happened. After years of keeping the secrets of that wretched house to myself, no one will hear it from me. All I care about now is getting as far away…

Today is the birthday of the Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper, formerly known as Vincent Furnier. He is 74 years old. I find this so hard to believe. I have been a fan since I was a pre-teen back in the early 1970s. You know — last week. Where…

#breastcancerawarenessmonth Is it some sort of ironic coincidence that my best friend left this realm on the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month? I think it might be. She’d have liked that irony. She was quirky that way. I’ll start by saying this: Check out the link, study up, and make your appointments ASAP for complete exams and mammograms if recommended by your doctor: Breast Cancer Awareness

I mean, what were they thinking? — This past month I have spent more time reading on Medium than I have on writing stories for any platform. This is probably due to my ongoing battle with a prolonged bout of insomnia — I can’t think straight enough to be terribly productive. But reading more and writing less…

I’ll take what I can get — My daughter just called and asked me if I had slept yet. I responded with thirty seconds of fake laughter and scared her silly. “That’s not your laugh,” she said. “Are you okay?” “I was playing,” I replied. “Fake laugh.” “Are you sure?” “I was playing,” I insisted. “You’ll have…

I saw you, Daddy — I sat up in bed when I heard her struggling to get up I was putting my glasses on When she came down the hall past my doorway Bent over her walker Her shape in the darkness Curved like a melon wedge I saw you behind her You were taller…

I’m trying, but sleep is still eluding me — “At least you’re resting,” I tell myself. “At least you doze off.” The pain in my body tells me dozing and resting are not restorative enough to fight inflammation and heal me. I need a good night’s sleep! It’s kind of amazing the things you come up with to occupy…

I’m unreasonably angry with Aurora right now — This is not the painting in the movie mentioned in this story. If you’ve been following along with me this month, you know that I’ve been getting very little sleep since the start of 2023. I’ve had arguments with my inner voice. I have rewound several of the more stupid…