My Short Stories

It was Sunday, shortly before noon, when my phone rang. I answered and heard the familiar voice of my teenage son, and after a few pleasantries, he asked, "Dad, can I come live with you?" "Certainly," I replied. "But why do you want to?" "If I stay here, my life will not end… Read More

I knew it was getting close to my daughter's two-week summer vacation with me, and I knew there’d be questions about what to pack, where we'd be going, etc., but when I answered this call, I wasn’t expecting to hear a crying and panicked daughter. I asked, "What’s wrong?" "Mom… Read More

How The Game Began: My daughter Katie and I have always loved our road trips. We played games, talked, invented stories, and just enjoyed our car time together. On one particular trip, Katie had just finished 8th grade and was about to turn 14, and we were driving from my place… Read More

This story begins at the Knoxville Museum of Art, where I volunteered at the front desk on Friday afternoons. It’s a great gig because you get to be the welcoming, smiling face that people need, and sometimes you get to meet some amazingly wonderful people. If you’re facing the… Read More

I have no fear of Satan. He cannot do me more than has been done. There is no pain he can give that will be greater than what God has given and I have endured. There will be no burden heavier than I have carried. What will you do Satan, strip away the love in my family? My own… Read More

It’s funny how some people can learn lessons early and quickly while others spend a lifetime of making the same mistake over and over again. It’s not until we get much older and look back that we can see the pattern, examine the choices we’ve made and dig into why we made them.… Read More

My First Church Brantwood Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio was just down the road from our house on Wanetta Ave. In my mind, I can still walk there and I can clearly remember the steps leading up the vestibule, the parking lot, the Sunday School classes in the basement, and the… Read More

They were just leaving their 5th wedding together. At the other weddings, they had merely been guests but at this one, she had been a bridesmaid and he had been a groomsman. They were both quite close to the newly married couple and stood glowing as they watched their friends… Read More

Katie is my daughter. She is one of many wonderful results of my affair with her mom, Amanda. While neither I, her mom, or other family members had ever kept the affair a secret, we had limited the conversation to age-appropriate answers. I was uninvited from a daughter's… Read More

My brother Harry and I had just returned from three months in Colorado. What a blast we had (and I already knew I was going back). There were hiking adventures, bar fights, girls, and payphones (which led to more girls). It's amazing the trouble two boys can get into! We arrived… Read More

If you haven’t read my story about Lady, you may want to as it adds a little more to this story. The Name Poopsy How did this man become known as Poopsy? Well, this man married my mother and moved us into his house in Fairborn, OH. He, my mom, and a few of my older brothers were… Read More

At some point, every parent plays the game… you look at your child and say "I love you" only to be met with "I Love you more" and you respond with "No, I love you more!" and the game is on! Every parent who’s played this game also knows there’s a time when their child will break… Read More

Some naming history: When my daughter Katie was in kindergarten she struggled with what to call her stepdad Tom and I. If she called us both Dad as she had been doing, it got confusing. Ultimately, she decided to call Tom, her stepdad, Dad because she was with him every day and… Read More

Mom and Dad divorced in 1962 as I was just finishing kindergarten. Not long after Mom moved us into public housing. I don’t remember much about that summer other than I was in the hospital for almost a month with a ruptured appendix. What I remember most from that time is Mom… Read More

This story needs a little context. Today is Thanksgiving Day, 2023. It was just a few minutes past noon when I called Daddy. I knew he'd answer and I knew he knew my weekend was busy. I'd traveled to Charleston with my hubby, mom and stepdad to visit my in-laws. Mom has been… Read More

From the moment I sprouted I knew I was destined to grow and become something special but no one told me what that would be. Like any generation, there were many like me and, from a distance, we all looked the same but to each of us within that generation, we could easily tell… Read More

“Daddy, why is this lamp so important to you?” I chuckled as I finished dusting and adjusting the shade. One glance at my daughter, Katie, told me she was dead serious so I took a seat beside her on the couch. Looking in her eyes, I saw the same soft brown eyes reflecting the… Read More

It was Christmas morning 1962 in Dayton, Ohio. Despite the foot or two of snow visible through the picture window, inside was warm and comfortable. More importantly, the tree was packed with presents as Santa had come the night before (he really did, I saw him with my own eyes!). Read More

In early translations of the bible the word for “hell” had one meaning, “out of God’s sight” or, as the Talmud teaches, to “cease to exist.” In later versions of the bible (KJV) hell has been understood to mean a life of torment and I wonder how this mistranslation came to be. I… Read More