but how long ago?

 

This fell from space and eventually washed ashore.
The material has yet to be identified
and it's function is unknown.

A Day at the Beach

 

        Sandy’s second trip down to the soft sand gave her another little pail full to bring back to where her mother sat on their blanket.  She carefully dumped it out next to the edge of the blanket and with her little shovel began to spread it out searching for tiny treasures from the ocean.

She had already collected three small shells and a broken sand dollar.  As she ever so gently spread the pile of sand out, she noticed two feet right in front of her.  She slowly looked up and saw a seagull standing watching her sort through the sand.  He seemed very curious.  Sandy mumbled something that sounded like, this is mine.  Go away.  But the seagull just kept watching her look through the pile of sand.

It was almost exactly at the same time that the sun sparkled off of something in her pile and the gull reached forward and pecked it out.  He quickly took two steps back and dropped the item on the sand in front of him.  Sandy saw it was a shiny ring, with what looked like a good-sized diamond.  

Annoyed at the seagull stealing her treasure, Sandy gave the ground a sharp whap with the back of her shovel.  The seagull took another step back, but didn’t appear too concerned, as again he reached forward, picking up the ring and this time flying off towards the water.

“What are you doing with that seagull?” asked Sandy’s mother.  “He was trying to take my shells, but I chased him away.” 

“Good for you, honey.  Don’t let those things get too close.  They're full of disease and stuff.” 

Later that afternoon, Maryann and her husband returned to the beach with their rented metal detectors, searching for her lost engagement ring.  I know this because I’ve been sitting watching all this activity since right after breakfast.  I would have said something right when the ring first appeared, but like I said, that seagull was quick.  Hopefully he dropped it before he was out over the water.

 

PS
        I was just guessing the lady's name was Maryann.  I have no idea who they are, but I did hear them talking about the ring. 

 

zc

 

 

 

 

 

A Rather Odd Story

 

Barry Bolinski had a secret he could never tell.  It was an ability that he didn’t understand for many years, and then he did.  By making various comments and asking questions, he came to realize no one else had this ability or would ever believe him if he said that he did. 

Barry’s unique ability was that he could see stress.  He could see it in steel structures, in cement and even in wood.  He’d see it as a different color from the surrounding material.  He first noticed it in a freeway overpass.  One supporting leg of the structure was red, as if it had been painted.  When Barry mentioned it to a friend, his friend looked at him like he was crazy.  “Barry, there’s no paint on that.  What are you talking about?” 

Occasionally he would see streaks of red on sections of bridges and once on the foundation at the post office building downtown.  The corner of that building eventually collapsed.  It was on a Sunday, and nobody was hurt.  The one time he did speak up was when he noticed one of the welds on a swing set at the elementary school.  It was bright red and he knew it was going to fail.  He told the school principal he had heard it crack when one of the children was swinging on it.  Of course he hadn’t, but it was enough to convince the principal to have it rewelded. 

Barry wasn’t sure what would happen should he ever announce his gift to people.  Most, of course, would never believe him, some would call him a freak or weird.  But who would actually address an issue they didn’t see for themselves.  No one was about to tear down a bridge just because some guy named Barry said he saw something going on with the material. 

It was the thump of his morning newspaper landing at his front door that reminded Barry it was finally the weekend, and he didn’t have to rush off to work.  Sitting on his back patio with his coffee and Saturday’s news, he propped his feet up and listened for a moment to the birds singing.  

As he opened the paper, the first thing to catch his attention was the full-spread photograph of the new ball stadium.  Never before had he seen anything red like this.  It had always been the actual thing that he saw, not just a picture of it, but here it was, a large section of the stands was red.  He saw it very plainly.   There was no way he could keep this to himself.  He wondered if the contractor had cut corners, or used inferior materials, but whatever the reason he had to say something to somebody.

 

 

zc

 

 

 

 to be continued

 

Finicky

 

We dangle things in front of a cat. It gets their attention and, if in the right frame of mind, they play with it.  They swat at it and try to capture it.

 

So, what is so different here?  We decorate places to get our attention, and if in the right frame of mind, we lend importance to them and marvel at them as they sparkle.

 

Sorry, but I’m not impressed, no matter how good the yarn has been spun.

 

 

 

 

In the commission of a crime

So, I bought this 1942 Buick.  I liked the way it looked and the price was right.  I had talked with my auto mechanic before I bought it, to make sure he would be willing to work on it whenever it needed anything.  He seemed as excited as I was to get it.

The first thing I did when it arrived was to wash it.  It had been transported here on a flatbed truck, and it wasn’t all clean like you see in this photograph.  Once I had it dry, I began going through the thing, just making sure there were no surprises.  Actually, the inside was not too bad. 

I found one cash register receipt that was too faded to read, one wrapper from a candy bar and a few small pebbles under the floor mats.  Inside the trunk was a car jack and tire iron.  The spare tire was under a false bottom, so the trunk looked empty when I first looked in it. 

It was when I lifted the false bottom to reveal the spare that I saw the handgun.  It was laying on top of the spare.  I was shocked at seeing it.  My first thought was to not touch it.  I didn’t know anything about it, who owned it, how it got here and I certainly didn’t want my fingerprints on it.  I closed the trunk and went back into the house.  I needed to think this through. 

I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table.  I though about calling the police and let them remove it and dispose of it however they wanted, or I could put gloves on and pick the thing up, slide it into a zip-lock bag and drive it to the police station and hand it over to the desk sergeant, but they may want to see where I got it from.  Also, if for whatever reason I’m stopped on my way to the police station, they’d freak out at seeing a gun in my possession.  Then, when I said, “I just found it and was bringing it to you.” they’d never believe me. 

Suddenly the excitement of having this car was gone.  Yikes, that didn’t last long.

 

 

zc 

 

 

 

 

 

Friendly Skies

 

“Sir, that isn’t going to fit in the overhead.”

 

“Pull your legs in a bit, you’ll make it.”

 

“If you keep your elbows tucked in close to your body, they’ll be plenty of room.”

 

“No Sir, that seat does not recline.”

 

“How about a peanut – no charge.”

 

 

 

 

 

It's a Long Way Down

 

There is a stability that is added to each step when using a cane.  That is the slight edge that is needed due to the unpredictability of the wrong step.  Just one slip can send you into a seemingly endless series of tests, doctors, nurses, hospital rooms, rehab facilities and bad meals.

But that’s not the worst of it.  Let’s back up for a minute, back to that hospital room.  It’s not private.  There is a second bed in there and the sounds coming from that bed are enough to keep you awake for years.  Enough to give you nightmares you haven’t had since childhood.

And because there are two beds, that means there are double the number of nurses coming and going all night, and strange visitors showing up to visit whatever it is in that other bed making all those eerie sounds.  You know they are not awake or aware of their surroundings, and yet their television runs non-stop.

You point your remote at their TV and press mute, but nothing happens.  You keep pressing but without success.

        Eventually another nurse makes her rounds.  She asks if you have any pain.  You slowly lift your hand to show her your thumb, which now hurts from pressing the mute.  She doesn’t understand, but compliments you on eating all of your Jell-O.

 

 zc