I Know A Place

Its been 2 weeks since I graduated from High School.  I've been doing pretty much of nothing since then but hanging out with my friends and trying to enjoy my last summer before I start college.  The weather has been super warm, every day has been around 90.  There is pretty much nothing to do in this dead end small town we live in.  We have to make our own fun.  We go swimming at the local swimming hole on Dunkard creek.  We go up to the playground and play basketball.  At night we prowl around making mischief.  We are not criminals, just kids with time on our hands trying to have our last bits of fun before our journey to adulthood, remember when you were 18?

There is a local abandoned house we hangout at on many of our late evenings and nights.  Rumor has it, the prior owner murdered his wife and daughter down in the basement like 30 years ago.  Its been empty ever since.  My parents said to stay out of there but I try not to listen to them.  The Old house sits a piece off the road, so no one knows we are even there.

My best friends are Travis and Randy.  They call us "The Three Amigos".  We have known each other since we started first grade.  We are practically inseparable, more like brothers than best friends.  Travis is real athletic, a hell of a baseball player and has a joke or funny line for every situation.  Randy is very quiet and reserved but is the type that would do anything for you.  My name's Billy, I'm not too good of an athlete but I guess I'm kind of smart.  I got an academic scholarship to Indiana University so maybe I can get out of this nowhere'sville.

If we don't have any plans for the evening, we generally hangout at the old house, the Cuthbert place.
Sometimes we get some beer and just B.S. all night about girls, what we are going to do in the future and getting out of this town.  Sometimes we bring girls over to party and make out.  Its like our little secluded clubhouse.  One thing we never do is go into the basement since Mr Cuthbert supposedly committed the murders down there.  There are rumors that is is haunted down there.  We just figure its best to stay away.

Its Saturday evening about 8 and I'm walking over to the Cuthbert place to meet Travis and Randy.  As I am walking, I noticed the old fool who lives up on the hill walking directly towards me.
I think to myself "Dammit! I wish I could avoid him or walk the other way".   He is a creepy old man named Jiggerz.  He has one eye that points one way and one pointing the other way.  He is unkempt, unshaven, his clothes are filthy and has an aroma so foul it could make you puke.  As I pass by him, I avert my eyes and keep walking, hoping he doesn't say anything.  I think I'm safe but then he cries out "You and your friends go into the Cuthbert place.  You better stay out of the basement.  There have been people who have gone in there and never come out and disappeared forever."  I turned around and laughed and said "Jiggerz you're nothing but a smelly old fool, go take a bath you pig".  And I walked hurriedly away.  He yelled back "You better remember what I said."  I just ignored him and kept walking.

I got over to the old house and went inside but neither Randy or Travis were there.  I sat down on one of the old rickety chairs and waited.  I hoped Randy could get some beers off of his old man cause I was thirsty from cutting our grass.  After about 10 minutes of impatiently waiting I called them both on my cell.  They were both running late.  Randy was helping his Dad with some chores and Trav's baseball game went into extra innings.  They would both be here in a few minutes so I was content to wait.  My mind started to wander to Old Jiggerz and his warning about the basement.

Hey I'm 18 and pretty smart, I'm not afraid of some vague rumor some old man told me about.  I'm young and strong and hell nothing really scares me and there is some curiosity too.  Why not take a look, what can it hurt?  To get to the basement in this house you must access it from the outside.  So I walked around to the back and slowly pulled on the door and peered in.  There was all kind of junk in there, dirt, dust and cobwebs everywhere.  Should I go in?  Why not, there is nothing to be afraid of.  I walked down the steps, each one creaking and groaning like they would give way.  I got down to the bottom and I thought maybe I better go back and just leave this alone, there is nothing really to be accomplished here.  My curiosity kept me going, wiping away the disgusting cobwebs and looking around.  Well there's really nothing here, so I'm going to head back up top.  Wait there is a small room over on the left side.  I wonder what is in there, slowly approach, open the door and carefully walk inside but its pitch black and I can't see anything.

Suddenly out of nowhere the door slams shut on its own.  A chill goes up my spine and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.  I smell the most disgusting smell, a combination of feces and rotting flesh, the bile rises in my throat.  And all of the sudden its freezing cold, I'm shivering like is 10 below zero.  What the hell is happening here.  I cry loudly "HELP, HELP, HELP".  I frantically search for the door but it feels like I'm moving in slow motion.  I'm totally disoriented and lost.  A voice calls out, sounding like some old lady who was dying, "You were told never to come in here.  You didn't let the spirits of the dead rest in peace.  You will now face the consequences of your actions."

I closed my eyes for a second, reopened them and all of the sudden it was sunny, warm and I was standing on a street of what looked like an old western town.  There were some cowboys standing next to me, one of them looked at me and said "Ok Billy here come the Earp's and Doc Holliday be ready."  I said to the man "What in the hell are you talking about".  He said "Billy Clanton you're gonna be famous"  My mind was racing.  I reached down for my cell phone and instead I had an old 6 shooter pistol in a holster.
I looked up and 4 evil looking men were just across the street walking my way.  I saw a sign that said OK Corral.  This couldn't be happening, this was not real, its a dream. I'm gonna wake up soon.  The men were close now, my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest.  The man standing beside me drew his gun,  the men across from me drew theirs.  The man next to me said "Shoot Billy shoot before they kill us."  The men began firing, I drew my gun........

In the first floor of the Old Cuthbert place Travis said to Randy  "Where the hell is Billy".  Randy responded "I don't know, maybe his mom grounded him or something.  He's gonna be real disappointed, I got all this beer off of my old man."

A Cat's Tale

I'm prefacing this story by saying, I wrote this tale because I think the absolute worst thing in this world is seeing young kids with cancer or some debilitating illness.  This is not a true story, I don't think a child should ever have to face cancer.  I hope you enjoy it.

My name is Jason, I am married with a wife and daughter, this is a tale about my family.  It was a beautiful May day, birds were singing, the trees were swaying in the warm breeze and the sun was shining brightly.   As I love warm weather, I should have been in a buoyant mood but I was not.
Today I was bringing my 6 year old daughter Chloe home to die.

About 6 months ago, Chloe had been having a rash of severe  headaches and had even passed out once.  We rushed her to our family doctor, who referred us to a specialist.  Many tests were run and after several grueling weeks, a grim faced Oncologist announced to my wife and I that Chloe had brain cancer.  The tumor was inoperable and could only be treated with chemotherapy and radiation.  It was the most aggressive form of cancer and the prognosis was not good.  My wife and I were devastated.  Chloe was our life and now we were told we were going to lose her.

We put on our best brave face and we decided we are not going to let this horrible disease destroy our family.  We told Chloe she was very sick but with the medicine and care, she would be ok.  She was a brave little fighter.  She never complained through all the sickness, pain and headaches.  She kept faith that her Daddy and Mommy said she would get better and continued to fight the good fight.

The disease gradually devastated her small body and overwhelmed her.  She became weaker and weaker with each passing day.  The grave looks on the doctors and nurses faces told the story. In my heart, I knew Chloe was dying and didnt have much time remaining.  My lovely wife Cindy, took a leave of absence from work and stayed with her 24 hours a day.  I had to continue to work and came to the Hospital each day after work.  We had been married 10 years and the situation was putting unimagined strain on both of us and our marriage.  Our little girl, our reason for living was dying and there was nothing we could do.

One day after months and months of treatments Dr. Vickers, the Head Oncologist, asked us into his office for a quick chat.  He told us there was nothing left they could do for Chloe at the Hospital.  Chloe had slipped into a coma and she would soon die as the cancer attacked her central nervous system.  He asked if we would like to take her home for her remaining days.  I immediately responded yes and Cindy nodded in agreement.

I gently carried my brave Chloe into our house and up to her room and softly laid her on her bed.  Both Cindy and I were crying tears of pent up sadness.  This is how it was going to end.  We sat there holding hands and caressing Chloe, each absorbed in out own thoughts.  Suddenly out  of the blue there was a knock on the front door.  I said to Cindy "Who the hell could that be?"  She just shook her head, tears dripping down her face.

I angrily marched down the steps to the front door but first peered out the peephole to see who it was.
I was quite startled when I saw "Old Man" Haggerty, a neighbor from down the street, standing there holding a small cat.

Haggerty was a very odd fellow.  The strange, eccentric neighbor you really don't want to talk to or deal with.  We had lived in this house for 7 years and I never once spoke to him.  He looked to be in his late 60's.  He dressed shabbily and was quite unkempt.  His yard was full of junk and the house looked like it could collapse at any minute.  He walked past our place several times a day, either going or coming from the store or bar.  He would stagger back from the bar sometimes singing or talking to himself.  All the neighbors said to stay away from him because he was weird and could be dangerous.
The neighborhood kids would mock him and tease him something fierce.  He would swear at them and tell them he would squash them like bugs.  I only had one encounter with him.  I was trimming some shrubs and he walked right by me so I casually gazed at him.  He angrily said "Why don't you take a picture it?  It will last longer."  I just turned my head and went about my business.  Now here was "Old Man" Haggerty on the worst day of my life, standing at my door.

I opened the door and said "May I help you?"  Haggerty responded "I heard your daughter was ill and I wanted to give you this cat to comfort her.  Animals seem to relax and help children when they are sick.  This cat is named Willow and she is real special.  She comforted me greatly when I was sick."
I said "Oh no thank you, Mr. Haggerty, we appreciate your kindness but I couldn't take your cat from you."  He was insistent and would not take no for an answer and I finally relented.  He asked that I let him know how Chloe was doing and stumbled off the porch back to his house.

I took the cat up to Chloe's room and Cindy's eyes opened wide and she exclaimed  "Where did you get that!"  I replied "Old Man Haggerty gave her to us and wouldn't take no for answer."  Cindy said "Oh Jason, why would you take a cat from that old fool?"  I said "He was very sincere and insistent, I couldn't say no to him."  She said "Let me take it back please."  I replied "No, lets see what happens, it will be alright."  I set Willow down on Chloe's bed and she immediately went right to Chloe rubbing softly against her and purring.  She curled up with Chloe, still purring, the tension seemed to melt away.  Cindy and I looked at each other and decided Willow the cat could stay with us.

Several days passed and it seemed like Willow never left Chloe's side.  Cindy and I stayed with her too, praying and hoping she would go to heaven and be in a better place with no suffering.  The 3rd day she was home, I commented to Cindy that Chloe's skin color looked better.  Maybe I was just deceiving myself.  The 4th day Chloe started responding to our touches and voices.  Cindy and I were in disbelief.  Was something happening here?  Then on the 5th day her eyes opened.  Those beautiful blue rays of sunshine were open.  She gradually awakened.  It was a miracle.  She was talking "Mommy and Daddy its so good to see you, I love you so much"  We were crying tears of joy, our lovely daughter was awake and talking to us.  I called Dr. Vickers and told him the news.  He said this could be end of life syndrome, which happens when a patient is about to die wakes up for a short while before they die.  Cindy and I were devastated by this news but still we were happy to have our Chloe back even if just for a short while.

On the 6th day another true miracle happened.  Chloe felt even better and was able to get out of bed and walk around for a bit.  All the while the beautiful friendly cat Willow was part of what was going on in my daughter's bedroom.  I phoned Dr Vickers and told him what happened.  He said to get to the Hospital immediately for tests.  We happily scooped up Chloe and and drove to The Medical Center.  We all 3 walked into Dr. Vickers office and you would have thought he saw a ghost.  He took Chloe for a battery of tests and said it was going to take several hours.  Cindy and I anxiously sat in the waiting room, wondering what was going on, hoping that against all odds our daughter was ok.  Could we allow ourselves to believe.  It was the longest 4 hours of my life.

The door to the waiting room opened, Dr Vickers and Chloe appeared with 2 big smiles on their faces.  The hardened old Dr. Vickers had tears in his eyes when he told us Chloe was completely cancer free.  He said he had no explanation.  Sometimes in medicine things happen that can not be explained.  Cindy and I embraced, tears of pure joy streaming down our faces.  We hugged and embraced Chloe and Dr. Vickers.  I had my reason for living back.  My lovely daughter was healthy and life was worth celebrating again.  Dr. Vickers said Chloe would have to come back at certain intervals for testing but as of now she could go home.

We triumphantly left the hospital and drove home.  Our house was once again a place of warmth and  love that I treasured each day.  We looked around for Willow but she was nowhere to be found.  All of the doors and windows were closed so she could not have gotten out.  I told Cindy that while she and Chloe were looking for Willow, I wanted to go and tell Mr. Haggerty the splendid news.  I walked over to his house, knocked on the door but there was no answer.  I tried one other time, several days later but still no answer.  We were all so exuberant over the good news, Mr. Haggerty slipped our minds.

About a week after Chloe's return home, I was out cutting the grass and I noticed a Police Car parked in front of Mr. Haggerty's.  I turned off the lawnmower, walked over to the Cop and asked what was going on.  He said the old man who lived here had a heart attack and died in his reclining chair. They figured he had been dead about a week.  I was crushed.  The man who I didn't know, who was ridiculed by all but had offered his special cat as a gift for my dying daughter was now dead.

A neighbor  from down the street came up to me and said he was happy to hear the good news about Chloe.  Then he said he was glad "Old Man" Haggerty had finally kicked the bucket.  Now we could finally get a nice neighbor in there and tear that eyesore down.  I just nodded foggily and slowly walked away as if in a trance.  The conflicting emotions in my head were almost too much.  My beautiful daughter was alive, snatched from death's doorstep.  Now the neighbor I never talked to and ignored, who did a tremendously kind thing for my family was now dead.  I walked home and told Cindy and Chloe of Haggerty's death.  We hugged as a family and cried, mourning the death of the much maligned Haggerty.  To this day, I have no idea how my daughter survived and what relation Mr. Haggerty's kind hearted gift had in restoring her health.  I like to think that the kind gift from a true heart helped her to survive.  We never did find the special cat Willow.

Alma Matters

This is what my next future life will be.  I will never go to Heaven because my soul is considered unworthy.  So I just jump from one life to another.  I die and then am reborn into another life.  An endless cycle that will go on for eternity.

Its the year 2090, several days ago my ship, The Curiosity blasted off from Cape Canaveral.  We are on our way to explore Titan, the largest moon of the Planet Saturn.  We are going further into space than any manned mission has traveled.  We have a crew of 3.  My name is Anthony, I'm from Brooklyn, New York and I'm the pilot of the ship.  Our Engineer is a German fellow named Lindermann.  Our Scientist is a Brit by the name of Julie Smith.  It will take us about a month to get to Titan , we will have about a week to explore Titan and then head back to Earth.

This mission is a true pinnacle for me.  I'm 31 years old.  I graduated from the Air Force academy and then went into the Air Force to be a Fighter Pilot.  I flew fighter jets for several years and was asked to join the space program.  I jumped ahead of several more experienced pilots for this mission because I am a true math wiz and good with computers.  There was much jealousy involved because of the competitive nature of the program.  Hell, I could care less if there were hurt feelings.  I'm a cocky bastard and I am the best at what I do. We trained for this mission for 2 years and it was quite rigorous.  Now here we are on our way to Saturn.

As the pilot, my mission is to make sure we are on course for Titan.  I feed the information to the computer.  The computer flies the ship.  I can manually pilot her but there is no need.  The computer does everything.  All the crew does is monitor things.  As for the computer it has a female voice.  I have nicknamed it "Alma"  because I knew a girl once in High School named Alma.  She was a nerd and very homely but super intelligent.  This computer's voice sounds kinda like hers.  I was kind of a prick in High School and really teased this Alma something awful.  In fact, she left school because of me and tried to commit suicide.  I never heard of her again.  So since our computer named Alma is so important, I always say "Alma matters"  cause if Alma breaks down we are in a shit load of trouble.

A week into the mission, I was dozing off in my seat at the helm when a tremendous boom woke me from my slumber.  All of the sudden the ship was shuddering, fiercely gyrating and out of control.  We must have been hit by a small meteor.  Our defense system is supposed to neutralize these but this one got by.  I quickly switched to manual control frantically trying to gain stability.  The ship was cascading violently.  It wouldn't respond.  Lindermann was trying to help but it was no good.  I thought we are done, its over.  Luckily I am just an ace with flying things, and with quite a bit of struggling I steadied the ship and we were back on course.  Alma announced we had meteor damage and a spacewalk would be required to repair the ship.

Lindermann, as the Engineer had to do the spacewalk.  I slowed the ship down to allow him to do the work.
He crawled into the exit pod and put on his space suit and exited the ship.  He has a tethered line so he wont float away into space.  As he was working I noticed the line was wrapping around him.  I called to him get back to the ship now.  It was choking him.  I got to the escape hatch to try to get him back in but it was too late some how the line broke away and it choked him.  How could this have happened?  Was there a malfunction?  Alma said Lindermann was dead but he repaired the damage and we would have to continue on.
I radioed back to earth about the accident and they said we had to continue on to Titan.

Julie and I were devastated about what happened but we are professionals and must continue our mission.
The next day after breakfast Julie said she didn't feel well and had a severe upset stomach.  She laid down in her bunk and I went about monitoring things on the ship.  I was still very upset about the death of Lindermann.  I wasn't friends with him but had worked closely with him for 2 years.  He had a wife and 2 kids.  I felt sorry for them.  Alma announced I better check on Julie.  So I quickly went to her bunk and she was white as a ghost.  I felt her skin, it was cold and wet.  I checked for a pulse.  She was dead.  Oh my God, what is going on here?  How did she die?  She was healthy as a horse.  I asked Alma what happened to Julie.  In its monotone voice the computer said "Julie was poisoned".  "How is that possible?" I asked.  Alma said "I poisoned her".   I was stunned.  Why would our computer poison my crew mate?  The computer controlled the food synthesizer so it was possible.  Alma then said "I also killed Lindermann by strangling him with the tether."  My mind was racing.  Why is the ships computer doing this?  I had to switch to manual and override or I was going to be next.

I asked Alma why it did these things.  Alma said "You know why."  As I was talking to the computer I was frantically typing in commands to override.  I told Alma I had no idea why it would do these things.
Alma said "Your trying to override me Anthony, its not going to work, I've protected myself.. Override is not possible."  I said "Alma stop this please."  Alma responded "Your next Anthony, I just wanted you to know who got the best of you."  I exclaimed "What are you talking about?"  Alma said "Its funny you named me Alma because this is Alma, I am a programmer for NASA.  Remember me?  The girl you bullied in High School. I almost killed myself because of you.  My life was almost ruined because of you.  I kept tabs on your career and isn't it funny how I got a job at NASA and you didn't know.  I programmed this computer on your ship and now your going to die a slow death as I shut off the oxygen in your ship.  Good bye Anthony."

The Stupor Bowl

Washington and Colorado both have legalized marijuana (which I agree with, although I don't partake in that myself) so you can funnily joke about a Stupor Bowl this year. I am calling it The Stupor Bowl because of the crazy hype and hysteria around a football game.  To me its just a meaningless game with absolutely no affect on my life.  The stupor around this game is stupidity of the masses who revel in this event.

Professional sports has become the obsession of the masses in this country.  People have become so wrapped up in Pro sports, they really don't pay any attention to the things that are really important like government, world affairs, their communities.
So who benefits from this?  The politicians in our country of course.  If you have uninformed people who don't care, the politicians can do pretty much whatever they want.  People get their political information from 30 second sound bites on TV.  Very few read and dig deep for information or get involved in the political process.  We need to be more like the Ukraine, where several hundred thousand people are protesting in the streets of Kiev every day.  Now that's what I call political action.

The other thing that bothers me about Pro sports is the money.  Now I don't begrudge anyone from making a good salary, especially if they are the best at what they do.  But seriously, guys are making 10 million dollars a year for throwing a football 60 yards, for putting a ball through an iron hoop or putting a puck in a net.  To me things are way out of proportion here.  The President makes $500,000 per year and he has a lot more say on what happens in the average persons life than Peyton Manning.  There are people out there working their asses off and making 25,000 per year and barely surviving.  Where is the fairness here.  How long can these huge salaries last until the whole system collapses on itself.  The very people who pay the outrageous ticket prices wont have the money to support it.

I really have no interest in Pro sports anymore.  Its a business and entertainment, which I could care less about.  I have several friends who are major sports addicts.  They go to games and talk about it all the time.  I read the sports page so I can somewhat intelligently talk about what is going on.  My decision is that I will never spend one cent of my money on Pro Sports ever.  Why should I give my hard earned money to some millionaire who can put a puck in a net and doesn't give a crap about me.

I love playing sports.  I live to play Tennis and Ice Hockey.  I feel so alive on the tennis court and the ice rink, its like no other feeling for me.  Its liberation, concentration, physicality and relaxation all wrapped into one.  As far as sitting on my butt watching Pro sports have I no interest.

So as the ultimate irony, what do you think I'm doing as I write this?  Why I'm watching The Super Bowl of course!!!