Tough Decisions

 

There is a nickel and a few pennies in the boy’s pocket.  He stands before the candy counter trying to select the best thing he can get for his money.  Does he pick the thing with the most in it, or the new, untried thing with the colorful wrapper?  Should he stick to the one he knows tastes the best or the one whose flavor lasts the longest?  This isn’t such a simple decision. 

Fast forward several years.  The boy is now a grown man, standing on the showroom floor, surrounded by colorful, new automobiles.  Some convertibles, some with an extra seat way in the back, a few with powerful motors and some very small, boasting good gas mileage.  Not such a simple choice.

But he finally selects one and drives home, eager to show the family.  He sees his wife standing in the driveway and thinks she is excited to see their new family car, but she looks angry.  As he pulls in and steps out of the car she says, “Larry, I’ve had it.  We have company coming over tonight and I have spent the day cleaning, so just when can we get rid of that chalk outline?”

 

 

 

 ZC

 

 

 

 

 

NEW - on the Market

 

There are many people at a crime scene.  There is a photographer snapping pictures of everything and from all angles.  There are people dusting for fingerprints, and there are both old and young detectives at the scene, many taking notes, in small notebooks they carry with them.  There is a person setting numbered markers around and identifying possible murder weapons.

So, what is the point of the chalk outline around the body?  They have the photographs; they were all there in person and saw it for themselves.  The coroner does the initial examination right there and then removes the body.  The clean team comes and removes all traces of the event, leaving everything looking as if nothing had happened.  The media people leave. 

That evening there is a news break on the television announcing the grewsome crime.  For several days after there are whispers traveling around the neighborhood about the family and the victim.  There are speculations and rumors.  Arrests are eventually made, juries are selected and a trial is set.

Meanwhile, Larry – from West Coast Reality is showing the house to perspective buyers, careful to step over the chalk outline and not smear it, unsure how long it needs to stay there.  That was never covered in his real estate class.  It just never came up.

 

 

 

 ZC

In Conversation

 

There was an index finger slowly moving back and forth on the monitor, with instructions to follow its movements with my eyes only and not move my head. 

As I did it, I began to wonder – how is it going to know?

Every now and then, Alexa pipes up with a comment, when we haven’t even been talking to her.  I can understand her responding to something she heard on the television, but when the TV isn’t even on…  well, that’s just spooky.

 

Sometimes I’ll test her just to see what she’ll say.

 

Alexa, how far is it from here to Ashtray, Wisconsin?

 

“Ashtray does not appear on any current maps of Wisconsin.”

 

Thanks anyway, Alexa.

 

Alexa, what about the distance to Elbow, Vermont?

 

“It's currently 58° in Elbow, with a 40% chance of rain by 7 pm.”

 

Fine, but you didn't give me the distance, only the weather.

"Have you hit your head?  Are you having a stroke?  Would you like me to call 911?"

No thanks, Alexa.  I was just goofing around.

"I still think you may need to be looked at."

No, really.  I'm fine.

"I'm going to go ahead and connect you to emergency services.  You don't seem right."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just an Observation

 

I’ve noticed they put billboards everywhere they find space available.

 

ZC

In Local News

Mitzie & Lennard of Portsmouth, Maine

have constructed the largest suspension

bridge made completely out of used dental equipment.

It spans the Wymore River between Chelse Commons

        and Billings on the far side.

 So far, nobody has ventured across it, even though

        the ADA has certified it to be excellent bridge work.

 

 ZC

 

  

Mum's the word

 

In time

I’ll find the whispers

and the place in which they hide,

Before this poem is famous

long after I have died,

I hear them in the forest

when the wind is in the trees

I’ll only pick the ones in bloom

the Mums, they make me sneeze.

 

 

ZC

 

 

From the Old Country

Coming to America to see

the Yankees play a double header.