A soft breeze flowing through the boughs of the deciduous trees, racing its way across empty fields of grass and slow moving streams and ponds, carrying on it the music of the night. Crickets chirped in the shadows, working together to create a symphony. With the birds gone and streetlights on everywhere, moths hummed and buzzed everywhere, trying to reach the mysterious glowing objects. The stars overhead shined bright,...

I turn smiling, though the tracks of my tears still appear on my face, looking at the blonde-haired little girl, as she walks to me. She looks up at me and says softly, "Daddy, it's time. We must go." I look at her and nod. "Why do you cry?" The innocence of the question strikes me to my core. She reaches out and softly lovingly touches my hand. My hand opens and she gently places her hand in mine. I look at our hands tog...

The troop of boy scouts was going out on a camping trip for the weekend. It would be fun, surely. Ricky was a second class scout and was participating. Unfortunately, his family was not wealthy. Not even close. So he would sometimes not have the gear necessary for these camping trips. This time it was a sleeping bag that he would not be able to supply. The troop had its own tents, so everyone would be sleeping out of the...

"Woman want baby. Woman want JuJu.” “What?” “JuJu. It’s magic. African magic, white or black.” “I don’t want black magic, Tutu.” Tutu smiled. “Here,” she said. “Have this.” Tutu gave me a tiny carved figurine; she explained how the women of Ghana use ones just like it to help with fertility. They carry their wooden doll at all times, usually hidden under clothing so only a spirit's eyes can see it. Then hopefully, an anci...

Before the rest of this tale, a little history of this Dream Maker from Oz... Long ago, eons some would say, a young man was born on the Isle of Man. His father and his father's father taught this young man the way of a warrior in the use of sword and battle axe. Many a battle did he wage, and songs were sung of his valor and might as a warrior. Then one day, as the mist cleared, he was gone. Some said he was bewitched, o...

It was a small pueblo in the Sonoran Desert. Juliana and Desiderio lived there. They were both artisans. They had apprenticed with the great jeweler and artist Gabriel. Everyone in northern Mexico knew of Gabriel. Even in the Mexico City he was known to the rich people who could afford his works. Why, even the peons and laborers knew of him. He was the Great Gabriel. And July and Desi had been his apprentices. Unfortunate...

This tale begins with warm western breezes pushing thru the land called Oz. The land of Oz was well known for the mystical people who call it home. People would come from afar to take consult from a ancient wise man.  This man a true ancient in Oz, with dark twinkling eyes, and a beard the colour of deep north snow. Each day he would sit in the warm sun in front of the local tavern. He was known as the Dream Maker of Oz....

"I just heard that someone I know has died. He was at the student clinic and they finally figured out he had tetanus, but nothing they did helped. He must have stepped on a rusty nail or something. He's dead. God, I knew him. He was a pretty good guy." My sister had come in with her news after her last class on campus. She lived with us in a spare bedroom at the back of the house. She told me the name of this fellow, but...

I look at you sitting in the bay window, overlooking the setting sun, as twilight slowly approaches the Pacific Ocean. My heart feels warm and my soul is full of love. You sit there with your knees up, arms wrapping around them with your head resting there, tilting watching smiling at me. The sun's rays come through the glass wrapping your head in a golden halo, my sweet angel. You smile and mouth to me, "I Love You, My D...

“I’m ready,” Lucy whispered, her voice so soft that it was nearly drowned out by the breeze kissing the grass in the great meadow where she (with her feet pointing west) and Alice (hers pointing east) lay cheek to cheek. “Oh?” Alice asked, her eyes drawn to a cloud that closely resembled a sailing ship. “You’re not paying attention, are you?” Lucy accused, turning her face away, gaze drifting towards the wood that surroun...

Prologue For millenia, the human world had no knowledge of the portals and the other worlds that they led to. Dimensions so vast in their differing realities that a balance had to be put into place to ensure that the darker being of each world wouldn’t try to escape and take over the other planes. Elven races would have been lost; their customs and legends overthrown by Dark Angels from another realm. The ogres in their s...

Palpable is the frustration of inability to be bothered to write. Frustration is reading that first sentence back and realising how fucking clumsy it is, though it does arguably get the point across. Satisfaction is having written a paragraph and moving on to a second one, but annoyance is not being able to think of where to take it. Soreness is the head that is scratched... Because who the fuck doesn’t scratch their head...

My dad told me, when I was a boy, "There is nothing you can do to change or correct the past. You just have to make sure that you do not continue the same bad things in the future. You must move on." This was something I remembered to this day. My family and friends always wondered why I never became angry. I never became angry, because things said and done in anger really cut deep and taking them back cannot ever happen....

4:30 in the morning. Up BEFORE the crack of dawn. It's pitch black out. There isn't a sound. Up before the birds. I am half asleep. No, scratch that. I am more than half asleep. More like 3/4 asleep! Sweat-shirt, jeans...I stumble around the room, getting dressed. I feel like a sleep-walker. My sister groans and turns over in bed. Lucky! I think. I try to be considerate, though. I don't want to wake her up. So why am I do...

The other day, I flipped the channels and landed on the Food Network. I watched it for a while and got a couple of good recipes. Later that day I asked my granddaughter what she wanted for dinner. What she answered gave me pause for what was follows here. "Grandpa, I want nothing for dinner tonight," she said. My brain sprung into action and I thought, "How does one prepare nothing to eat? Is there a recipe for it? Is the...