“You’re such a failure”, the fat, ugly woman hissed, gorging herself with another donut she’d just purchased at the counter. She liked her car outside, because she was not a failure. Her car was a great car. She really liked her great car. The bank liked her car too, and they loved that she paid for a little part of it every month. The elderly man shuffled away from her screams, chuckling to himself, because he darned well wasn’t chuckling to anyone else. “I don’t reckon I want much of that success business”, he said, pulling out his pipe. “Oh, you don’t! Well, you, you… you are a failure! You aren’t a success like me!” She paused for a second, waiting for him to admit his defeat, his social destruction, and her … Read entire article »

I once knew an old man who liked to go on walks alone. I never really got that, people have always been my thing. Whenever I would drive by him, I’d slow down to wave, just to see him stop and stand up all proud and straight and look back at me. I never really got that, he took life so seriously. He returned every look right back eye-to-eye, just to show he was ready for anyone and everything. What a proud, silly old man. A few years later, I went to that man’s funeral. He didn’t know he had one, because he was dead. He looked just as serious in that casket, though he wasn’t really there. I never really got that, I don’t want people to look at me … Read entire article »