Thursday, September 30, 2021

We search for that special someone, and dream of a future with them.

 

Will it happen? Maybe . . .  

 

 

In Time

 

Fly, but why?

Because, an answer

 

Up, well yes

Away, with the breeze

 

Seek, my mission

Find, could be

 

People, many

People, few

 

Discover, maybe

Discover, you.

 

Me, alone

Me, with you

 

Soaring, high

Thoughts, abound

 

Should, I think

The world, in you?

 

Restrain, I must

Control, my heart

 

Fall, in time

Time, a must

 

Believe, in time

Me, with you.

 

 

Copyright © 2021 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

As we age, our memory may not be as good as it was when we were younger. Sometimes we struggle to remember our past.

 

Maybe we should record the special events that helped us make our way through life. As such, join me in . . .

 

 

Remembering My Past, Before I Forget It

“The Early Years”

 

     I turned seventy-seven on July 13, 2021. As I lay in bed on a warm morning in early August, I wondered where I’d put my cell phone. It wasn’t on the nightstand next to the bed, connected to the charger.

     What confused the situation even more was that I thought I could hear it when I received an email. But I had no idea where it was. Was I slipping into the deep abyss of memory loss?

     With this thought rattling around in my brain, I tried to test my memory by recalling some of the significant events in my life. To challenge my mind, I traveled back in time to my early years—the first thirteen to be exact.

     My life began in the Bronx, New York. The first four and a half years I lived with my parents in my mother’s parents’ apartment on Harrison Avenue. Aside from becoming potty trained, four other notable occurrences emerged from the cobwebs of my mind.

     The first was the birth of my sister. I was almost two and a half years old. My parents came home from the hospital and entered the apartment. My mother was holding a blanket-wrapped package.

     I ran up to her shouting, “Mommy, mommy, what’s that?”

     “This is your baby sister, Alan.”

     “Not a brother?” I asked, somewhat confused.

     “No.”

     “Why not? Take her back.”

     “I can’t. It doesn’t work that way.”

     “Why?”

     “Because . . .”

     “Well, I had to keep my sister.”

     The second involved a lady living on the ground floor of our apartment building. I was almost three years old, when I first met Molly “Pretzel.” At least that’s what I thought her name was. Her kitchen window faced the street. Every time I walked by, she leaned out the window, with a pretzel in her hand, and said, “Alan, if you’d like a pretzel, give me your hand.”

     She didn’t have to ask twice. One day, as I approached her, I raised both my hands and sung out, “Molly, two pretzels, please.”

     She smiled and said, “Give me a kiss.”

     I puckered up and kissed her cheek and she placed one pretzel in my right hand and one in my left. As I turned away, my mother said, “What do you say?”

     I looked up at Molly and chanted, “Thank you.”

     The third event focused on a bronze statue of a man sitting on a rock with his chin resting on his hand. I was about four. One morning my grandfather saw me staring at it. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Allie, that man is called the ‘The Thinker.’”

     “Why?” I inquired.

     “Well, as you grow up, you will have a lot of questions about life that you will think about. And what you need to do is to work hard to find the answers. Will you?” he asked.

     Not fully understanding what he was saying, I shrugged my shoulders and muttered, “Yes.” The statue passed from my grandparents’ home, to my parents’ home, and now sits on the mantel above the fireplace in my living room.

     Finally, my fourth remembrance is of the visits to the corner soda shop, with my grandfather. He would help me up on the stool across from the soda fountain, and ask,” Allie, what would you like?”

     I’d stare at him and say, “A glass of water, please.”

     “But you can’t have a glass of water. We’re at the soda fountain. How about a chocolate malted?”

     My response didn’t change—“Just water.” This frustrated him to no end.        

     Well, my time spent in the big city ended in the summer of 1949. My parents moved us to Elmont, Long Island—farming country that was being developed into what would become the largest unincorporated village in the world, at that time.

     My grandmother cried to my mother, “You’re moving to the middle of nowhere. I’ll never see you again. It’s so far away.”

     “Mom, it’s only fifteen miles from where you live. You can visit every weekend,” my mother responded.

     And visit she did. Each Saturday morning, looking out my bedroom window, I remember this little old lady shuffling up the driveway, with a large shopping bag in each hand, filled with goodies for my sister, baseball cards for me, and food she and my mom would cook for Sunday dinner, when my grandfather would join us.

     At fifty-two, she was the “oldest” person I knew—ancient in my eyes. She shared my bedroom and became my best friend. I loved her deeply.

     My grandfather entered my world on Sundays, dressed in a three-piece suit and tie. My mother would say, “Dad, put on something more comfortable, or at least take off your coat.”

     He would look at her, with a smile on his face, and reply, “No.”

     “Why not?” she would ask.

     “Because I’m wearing a dirty shirt,” he would reply.

     And this happened every Sunday that he came to visit. Sometimes he would even sit, dressed to the nines, on a folding chair in our driveway, holding a sun reflector up toward his face to get a tan.

     When I began school in September of 1949, my mother marched me to the bus stop on Fallon Avenue. I lived in Fallon Court. Two other boys, accompanied by their mothers, stood next to me. We were just getting to know one another. As our elementary school years passed, we would become friends who hung out together, spent time in each other’s homes, and played baseball and football on the street. 

     However, during these early years, something happened that made us famous, at least for a short period of time. Mike, our school bus driver, gave us a nickname that stuck with us through grammar school. Since we were the only passengers he picked up on Fallen Avenue, he dubbed us, the “Three Fallon Brothers.” And my wish came true, since I always wanted a brother.

     In third grade, I accomplished something I didn’t think could happen. I wanted to be a singer, so I tried out for the glee club. After auditioning, the twinkle in my music teacher’s eyes seemed to have disappeared. Not wanting to disappoint me, she placed her hands on my shoulders and said, “You made it.” My face lit up.

     At our first rehearsal, I showed up ready to share my voice with the world. When my teacher saw me, she took me aside, and said, “Alan, I’d like you to do something very special for me.”

     I blushed and whispered, “Okay.”

     “Please stand on the top of the riser—the very back row. When it is your turn to sing, move your lips, but don’t let any sound come out.”

     This confused me, but I was a member of the glee club, so I did what she asked. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered I had invented lip- synching.

     From that day forward, my singing reputation preceded me. Five years after my glee club experience, I prepared for my bar mitzvah at age thirteen. It was customary to chant the prayers at the service. As I stood on the platform before the congregation, awaiting my passage into manhood, the president of the temple, a family friend, whispered in my ear, “Alan, it would be better if you recited the prayers rather than sing them.” And so I did.

     Just before I entered the fifth grade, my grandparents bought me the most beautiful two-wheeled, red bicycle. I couldn’t wait to ride it. It had been raining during the day, but as soon as it stopped, I got on the bike and sped around the block. As I came around the corner back into the court where I lived, I hit a sandy patch. The bike went out from under me and I landed on the ground, hitting my face on the handlebars. The bike was pretty beat up, but I was worse—a bloody nose and two black eyes. In my school pictures, taken later in the year, even though the black eyes couldn’t be seen by anybody who looked at me, it appeared as if I was wearing a mask.

     Although I was shaken up by this event, the death of my grandmother from leukemia at the end of 1954 devastated me. I was only ten and she was just fifty-seven. Our wonderful rabbi, at the time, spent over an hour with me in our basement helping me understand what had happened. To this day, he holds a special place in my heart.

     In the spring of my fifth grade year, I stayed up late one night celebrating my grandpa’s fifty-seventh birthday. Mom bought strawberry shortcake for the occasion. I’d never eaten strawberries before. They tasted all right, but not great.

     After recess at school the next day, my teacher gave me a weird look and asked, “Have you been in a fight? Your right eye is swollen shut.”

     I told her I hadn’t been in a fight. To make sure I was all right, she sent me to the nurses office and the nurse called my mother to come and pick me up and take me to the doctor, as my other eye also now was swollen shut. The nurse stated, “That must’ve been some fight you had.”

     When my mother arrived, she took one look at me and asked, “Have you been in a fight?”

     I looked her straight in the eye and said, “No.”

     At the doctor’s office, he stared at me and asked if I’d eaten something I’d never eaten before. When I mentioned strawberries, he laughed and said, “You weren’t in a fight, were you? You’re allergic to strawberries. You have what we call a case of ‘hives.’” I breathed a sigh of relief, because I was no longer in trouble for the fight I never had.

     In the summer, after my thirteenth birthday, I attended a camp in upstate New York and had a spectacular experience. Not only did I learn how to ride a horse bareback, I learned to jump hurdles. However, without the security of a saddle, I went up in the air fine, but when I came down, I found myself grasping the horses mane while looking into its eyes and praying I wouldn’t hit the ground headfirst. I never did try that again.

     “Wow! I still have my memory—at least about the first thirteen years of my life. If I get up the courage, I’ll dig into the depths of my mind for more events that shaped my life, as I aged. And if you’re lucky, I’ll share them with you.

 

 

Copyright © 2021 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Money is a lure that can make us do crazy things. It can change our lives and affect how we live, work, and play.

 

How far will we go to become rich? Envision . . .

 

 

The Power Of Money: Dream Or Reality?

                                                                         

“Dollar bills! Dollar bills!” someone screamed.

         Dropping from the sky—floating through the air.

         Caressed by the wind—wisped in magical patterns.

         I couldn’t believe my eyes.

But then movement—people became crazy.

         Running and screaming,

         they grabbed for the falling wealth—

         reckless—out of control.

         Those who fell—trampled.

Then it became weird. The bills started climbing up the bodies.

         They seemed alive, on a mission, . . . a very deadly mission.

         They traveled from feet and hands toward the face.

         They covered both the nose and mouth of the foragers,

         leaving dead bodies everywhere.

My eyes focused on an astonishing phenomenon.

         Emerging from the main entrance

         of the Central Valley Savings and Loan

         were not patrons, but more bills—

         not ones, but fives, tens, twenties, fifties, and hundreds.

         All stood upright and marched

         like a “legion of powerful gods.”

Then the bank doors opened again.

         I trembled at the thought of what might emerge—

         more money draining out of a financial institution.

         But it wasn’t money.

Four men, dressed in bankers’ three-piece gray suits and striped ties,

         strutted onto the street.

         One waved a hundred dollar bill and proclaimed,

         “People can’t escape the hold money has on them.

         That’s why we, the bankers, are society’s masters.

         Just show me one person, who can’t be enticed by money,

         and I’ll . . .”

At that very moment, the hundred-dollar bill slithered out of his hand

         and landed over his nose and mouth.

         He gasped and fell to the ground.

Another hundred-dollar bill stood at attention in front of the masses,

         who had succumbed to the power of greed.

          Benjamin Franklin smiled and winked.  

And, as he has been quoted,

         “He that is of the opinion money will do everything,

         may well be suspected of doing everything for money.”

 

 

Copyright © 2021 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Libraries can open doors to stories that may be hard to believe. Authors tell tales that are true, but also those that are strange or unreal.

 

Houses of learning, libraries are places to visit. Sometimes, however, weird events can occur in the stacks . . .

 

 

In The Dark Of Night

 

I was studying for finals in the library stacks late Wednesday night.

Exhausted, I must have fallen asleep, and when I picked up my head

     from the table, there was no light.

 

I looked at my cell phone and found it was after eleven and the library

     had closed over an hour before.

Then I heard rustling on the other side of the stacks and hoped

     it was a staff member with a key to the door.

 

I shuffled my tired body in the direction of the noise and was flabbergasted          

     at what I saw.

There in the dark, with a candle burning, were Edgar Allan Poe

     and Stephen King chatting, which left me in awe.

 

How could that be, for Poe had died over one hundred and seventy years ago?

Still, what they could be discussing intrigued me, so I moved 

     within ear range cause I needed to know.

 

The two authors spoke of an Island, in the middle of the ocean,

     many miles away.

They talked about an infant, wrapped in a package with a bow,

     left on a couple’s doorstep one summer’s day.

 

King said the couple who’d received the gift had wanted a child

     for a long time, but could not conceive in a normal way.

Therefore, the monarchy that governed the island, decided 

     to give them one, which they needed to raise, as the government did say.

 

As the years passed, the young boy became a finely tuned machine,

     a technological wonder.

His parents made his life comfortable, but, as the directions

     with the package indicated, they had to follow strict rules

     to raise him, which permitted no blunder. 

 

But the child wanted more and more freedom and began pushing

     his own buttons, deviating from his structured role.

The adolescent became his own “person,” but this couldn’t be,

     and such deviation would take its toll.

 

The boy, now a man, had broken away. Not controlled by others,

     his terms became clear.

He would no longer be a robot, but would lead his own life without fear.

 

This troubled the creators, who had given him life,

     as this was not what they had planned.

They knew this turn of events would not be to the liking

     of the leaders of their beautiful land.

 

Empowered, the man glared at those who protested his actions,

     daring them to challenge him.

Not much for words, mounting the steps of the Capitol Building,

     he motioned to the crowd to gather and addressed them with vim.

 

His appeal was eloquent and moving and the crowd responded

     by pledging support for the cause.

They clearly were behind his preaching independence

     and the right to be free and showed appreciation through robust applause. 

 

Having accomplished his mission, he descended the steps,

     as the appreciative throng shook his hand.

His movements labored, as he made his way through the crowd,

     he began to become weaker and this he didn’t understand.

 

The strong man was fading and melting away, getting smaller

     and smaller and much more compact.

As the crowd dispersed, all that was left at the bottom of the steps

     was a square metal box, a simple artifact.

 

Poe looked at King and smiled in way that indicated

     they had accomplished their task and it would beguile

     those who read their tale.

Then the lights in the library went on, startling me, as a new day began,     

     and what I didn’t see almost made my heart fail.

 

Both Poe and King were gone and left no remnants

     of their nighttime endeavor around—nothing in sight.

I quivered as I packed up my belongings and muttered,

     “Now who’s going to believe what I’d witnessed in the dark of night.”

 

 

Copyright © 2021 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Sometimes things change in a way that confuses us. We don’t know how to react. Maybe it’s better not to get involved.

 

Then the occurrence repeats itself. And what runs through our mind is . . .

 

 

This Can’t Be Happening

 

Dr. Jeremy Burgess taught my Social Diplomacy class at Collins Lake Community College. Dedicated to his teaching, he showed up like clockwork for the class, Monday through Thursday of every week. He was never late and always prepared. Dressed in a plaid jacket, white shirt with a solid color tie, and black trousers, he stood erect in front of the classroom.

 

He greeted our class with a slight smile and then proceeded to follow a well-thought-out lesson plan projected on a screen in front of the room. Not once did he deviate from his outlined daily undertaking. We all paid close attention and hung on his every word as he moved through the material, which was crucial to passing the course.

 

But there was something strange about him today, March 14, 2017—something I couldn’t put my finger on. Ever the organized professional, who knew his subject well, he seemed even more methodical, almost mechanical in his presentation. He didn’t break stride, stray from his line of thought with a humorous, but related, side comment, as he had in many past sessions. Even the slight smile on his face didn’t seem the same.

 

This bugged me. I probably should have let it go, but I couldn’t. I leaned over to Sherry, who sat in her seat to my right, and whispered, “Do you see anything weird about Dr. Burgess today? He’s not himself. He just appears to be going through the motions. His connection to us isn’t there.”

 

“What are you talking about, Devyn? All I see is the same uptight, rigid prof who has faced us each day since the beginning of the semester. He was an oddball on day one, so why should anything be different now?”

 

“I don’t know. But his mannerisms are more precise, rigid—almost robotic. When I look into his eyes, they seem vacant. There’s no feeling, no warmth.”

 

“Warmth, Devyn? When did you ever consider him warm? He’s always been a cold, distant spirit. When I’d go to see him in his office, he would respond to my questions, but in a way that made me feel as if I wasn’t even there.”

 

“Beats me. Maybe I’m crazy. But there’s something wrong. I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to find out. I can’t just look the other way and make believe nothing has happened. Just thinking about it gives me a pain in my gut.”

 

“Leave it alone, Devyn. It’s none of your business. You do this all the time—stick your nose in where it isn’t wanted. You’re going to ruin it for all of us, if you start messing with Professor Burgess. My grade matters to me and I can’t support you in this nutty endeavor of yours.”

 

The bell rang. Without saying another word, Sherry gathered up her books and MacBook Air and followed the other students out of the room. I sat there staring at the figure behind the podium. There definitely was something odd happening. I heard Sherry’s arguments, but they didn’t diminish my concerns. I had to do something. What it was, I didn’t know.

 

At that moment, Dr. Burgess collected his belongings and marched, like a storm trooper, out the classroom door. Teachers don’t move that way, I thought. Their movements are more fluid—not lockstep. “Something’s not right with this picture,” I muttered.

 

After a restless night, I awoke to the bright sunlight of the start of a new day. My head felt clearer and I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn’t believe what I’d put myself through yesterday. I do it all the time. I build things up in my mind and make them out to be more than they should be. Burgess’s class bores me. What else can I say? Maybe what I did yesterday was my way of making it somewhat interesting.

 

I left my second floor apartment on South Willowby, jumped into my Ford Fiesta, and headed to campus. As I turned the corner onto Whitmore Lane, I saw the strangest sight at Argo Park. Just to the left of the swing area, about twenty men, all over fifty, with gray hair, marched with perfect precision down the bike trail. To my amazement, the leader of the pack was none other than Dr. Burgess.

 

“Holy cow!” I screamed. “What’s going on?” I was tempted to pull over, but my slowing down to view the spectacle already had angered the driver in the car behind me, who had begun honking his horn to keep me moving. So I did.

 

I arrived on campus, parked my car, and headed toward Carter Hall for my English class. I wouldn’t be in Dr. Burgess’s class until two in the afternoon. My head kept spinning with thoughts about what I’d observed in the park.

 

At two, I entered my Social Diplomacy class. The professor stood looking vacantly at the unoccupied seats, as the class members filed in. Then his still empty eyes fixated on me. I saw nothing in them, but they seemed to be peering into my very soul. Had he seen me drive by the park? Did he know I saw him marching robotically with his clan? Did he know I knew he was doing something that maybe he shouldn’t be doing? These thoughts made my skin crawl.

 

I slithered into my seat and Sherry sat down next to me. “Sherry, I’ve got something to tell you,” I muttered. Either she didn’t hear me or just ignored me. “Sherry, I need to tell you something about Dr. Burgess. Please Sherry, say something.”

 

She turned toward me with anger in her voice and said, “Don’t start this again Devyn. Burgess is our teacher. Leave him alone. I don’t need to hear any more of your crap about him being something less than human. Just drop it.”

 

I looked into her eyes. Oh, my God! There was nothing there. Her head moved methodically back and forth. I didn’t know what to do. Then she stood at attention, pointed at me, and yelled, “You have tainted my father’s reputation for the last time. You are a threat to his mission and must be stopped. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. Now I have no choice.”

 

“Have no choice? He’s your father? What the hell is happening?” Then I felt a needle being inserted into my arm. The world began to spin around me. And then everything became dark.

 

When I awoke from my medicated state, I was still seated in the same chair in the same classroom, but I couldn’t move. Eyes—empty eyes—stared at me from the front of the classroom, but they weren’t those of Dr. Jeremy Burgess. A woman stood looking in my direction and what I saw on the screen behind her caused chills to run through my body. Written in bold letters were the name, Dr. Sherry Burgess, and the date, March 14, 2024.

 

 

Copyright © 2017 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.

Monday, August 30, 2021

Nothing seems to be going right. You’ve lost control.

 

Things have to turn around. In order to make this happen, you may have to consider a . . .

 

 

Class Action Suit

 

     The damage had been done. There might not be anything I could do about it. I sat at the kitchen table, with my head in my hands, wondering if I’d make it through the rest of the school year.

     I stared out the window. It was a sunny Sunday morning in mid-April, but the wind blew with such force the trees appeared to be conducting an orchestra and motioning me to join them. I was tempted to go—to be part of their ensemble. I had to escape what was going on inside me. My gut ached.

     I turned away from the window and shook my head, hoping to get rid of the confusion that wracked my brain. As I did, Nina entered the room. She looked at me with a weird expression on her face.

     “Anson, what’s wrong? You look lost and scared.”

     “Everything’s falling apart. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

     “What’re you talking about?”

     “I don’t know if I can continue doing it.”

     “Doing what?” she asked.

     “Teaching.”

     “But you love your job. Your life revolves around your students.”

     “It’s broken. Destroyed. It can’t be fixed.”

     “What can’t be fixed?”

     “Everything.”

     “What do you mean by everything?”

     “I can’t talk about it now.”

     “Can’t, or don’t want to?”

     “I gotta go.”

     “Go where, Anson?” Nina asked, frustrated with my lack of a response that made any sense.

     Without saying anything more, I got up and left the kitchen. If looks could kill, I’d be dead and buried.

     I avoided talking to Nina the rest of the day. I hid out in my den until dinner. Nina poked her head in. “Are you eating supper with me tonight?”

     “Yeah, I guess so.”

     “Then let’s go into the kitchen and have something to eat.”

     I didn’t answer her. I looked out the den window and watched the cloud formations, as they moved slowly off into the distance.

     Nina screamed, “Are you coming?”

     Startled, I grunted, “Okay.”

     I followed Nina into the kitchen and settled into my seat at the table. She looked at me, somewhat surprised. “What are you doing? Do you expect to be served? This is a joint venture, you know.”

     “What’d you say?”

     “Shape up, mister, or your life at home is going to be far worse than anything that’s happening at school.”

     Without saying a word, I pitched in to get the dinner on the table. Then Nina and I sat in silence and ate.

     As we cleared the table, Nina asked, “Do you want to talk?”

     “About what?” I queried.

     “Whatever’s bothering you.”

     “Why? You can’t help. It’s my problem and I have to figure it out.”

     “But I’m your wife.”

     “I know. But what does that have to do with my problem?”

     “Bounce your ideas off me. I’ll let you know which ones I think will work.”

     “Not now. I’m not ready. I’ve got to get prepared for tomorrow. That’s when everything has got to come together. It’s do or die!”

     “You’re making a really big deal out of this. It isn’t the end of the world, if you don’t pull it off. Whatever ‘it’ is, you’ll live to see another day.”

     “That’s what you think. But you don’t have to face them—thirty-five, seventeen-year-old seniors. They try to rule my life each day.”

     “Rule your life? How?”

     “I can’t talk about it.”

     “Why not?”

     “Just drop it already.”

     I knew I was driving her crazy. But this was something I had to do by myself. I headed to the bedroom to get out of the line of fire.

     I believed, in my heart, I had to take control of a world that was falling apart. If I was going to succeed as a teacher, I had to stand in front of each class I taught with pride.

     I awakened every morning in anticipation of a wonderful day. I taught five English classes—two sophomore, two junior, and my afternoon senior honors English class. I instructed the first four in a way that pleased me. But the fifth was another story. They fought me for control, and this was no longer acceptable.

     Looking back, this past Friday had been an utter disaster. When I entered my honors English classroom, dressed in an open collared shirt and Levi’s, Justin treated me as if I was one of the boys.

     “Hey Anson,” he yelled. “Want me to start the class? Don’t answer, I’ve got it covered.”

     He caught me off guard. I didn’t know what to say, so I sat down behind my desk, as he began to talk to the class about writing the essay I had assigned about their goals for the future. Dressed in an open collared shirt and Levi’s, he looked just like me. I’d become one of the crowd. I blended in and disappeared.

     Marissa raised her hand and stated, “I have a question.”

     From my seat, I said, “Yes, what is it?”

     Before she could reply, Justin, spoke, with authority, “This is my class! What is your question, Marissa?”

     But this wasn’t his class, and my permitting him and the others to be independent, to take charge of their lives in preparation for the future, had gotten out of control. I needed to get my class back, but how? The bell rang and the class filed out. I left for the day. My spirits were at their lowest level ever.

     When I arrived home, I went straight to the bedroom and walked around the bed three times. Maybe getting my steps in would lead to an awakening of my mind that would give birth to the answers I sought. However, all I did was stub my toe on the footboard of the bed. I bit my lip to keep from screaming out in pain. But then lights flashed in my brain illuminating a picture of me, the “strong, confident me,” in front of my honors English class tomorrow afternoon.

     I appeared in the kitchen the next morning to grab something to eat in the car on my way to work. Nina stared at me, with an inquisitive look on her face. “What’s in the suitcase?” she asked.

     I smiled and replied, “My ‘Class Action Suit.’”

     “You’re going to court?” she inquired.

     “It may lead to that, but no,” I quipped.

     I left the house and headed to Richfield High for my afternoon of reckoning. Just before my honors English class, I snuck into the faculty bathroom, locked the door, and opened the suitcase.

     Seven minutes later, I exited wearing a trench coat, buttoned from top to bottom. I entered my classroom and stood before thirty-five seniors engaged in conversation. Not one noticed me. I cleared my throat and spoke, “Ladies and gentleman, please give me your attention.”

     In slow motion, they began to look toward the front of the room. By that time, I was standing on my desk. Confused, they stared at me in disbelief.

     Then I blew them away. I unbuttoned the trench coat and let it slip off my shoulders and down to my feet, leaving me completely . . . (No, I know what you’re thinking. Not nude!) . . . dressed in formal attire—a most prominent “Class Action Suit.” For the first time, in a long time, I had their full attention and I was in control.

 

 

Copyright © 2021 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Finding that special someone is what we wish to achieve. However, it may not be easy. 

 

When we do discover the one, we need to appreciate what we have . . .

 

 

Together

 

As I sit in my chair by the fire,

I gaze in your direction.

Your beautiful smile

enthralls me.

 

My thoughts turn to the life we share

and the love

that has grown stronger

with each passing day.

 

I think of the time

we have spent with each other

and cherish each precious moment

that has brought us so much happiness.

 

Our walks, our talks,

our just being together

form the essence of a relationship

that has been blessed.

 

Your life path and mine

have crossed

and we have touched each other

with love.

 

Our journey together

has allowed us to form a partnership

in which we have grown,

as both a couple and as individuals.

 

The stability of our relationship

lets us travel a common road,

but also permits us

to follow our individual paths.

 

When we are apart,

I reflect on our togetherness

and draw strength and a sense of purpose

from these thoughts.

 

My mind

carries your picture,

and my heart

embraces your love.

 

When we are together,

I revel in the joy

of our souls

being intertwined.

 

Together,

we are blended

in love, life, and purpose . . .

forever.

 

 

Copyright © 2009 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.