The Old Man & The Sea, Part 2: The Deep

The Old Man & The Sea, Part 2: The Deep “Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.” — Ernest Hemmingway, The Old Man and The Sea         Out on the open water, Charles Thomas felt closest to God. […]

The Diner: Dale

The Diner: Dale “These fragments I have shored against my ruins” ― T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land “Order up!”         Dale had been a fry cook for as long as anyone could remember.         He started as a teenager flipping burgers at the concession stand in the park during baseball games. The job began on Memorial Day […]

The Old Man & The Sea, Part 1: The Rowboat

The Old Man & The Sea, Part 1: The Rowboat “Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?” — Ernest Hemmingway, The Old Man and The Sea         Each spring, as Charles Thomas pulled the battered rowboat down to the shoreline, he couldn’t help but remember how the story was […]

The Diner: Edna

The Diner: Edna “Youth is wasted on the young.” — George Bernard Shaw         Dressed in her Sunday best, she sits alone in the booth next to the window.          She watchs the morning sun climb slowly over the tops of the snow-laden trees; the bright, blue sky giving the illusion of warmth. Consequently, the soft morning […]

She Used to Call Me Baby

She Used to Call Me Baby “Hey baby, when I write, I'm the hero of my shit.” — Charles Bukowski          There’s nothing like an itch you can’t scratch.          On those Saturday nights, when I got itchy, I would drive down to this swank, little drinking establishment on the corner of Way-South and Washington. […]